Provided is a method of treating an immune system disorder not involving T
cell proliferation, comprising administering to the animal an immunotoxin
comprising a mutant diphtheria toxin moiety linked to an antibody moiety
which routes by the anti-CD3 pathway, or derivatives thereof under
conditions such that the disorder is treated. Thus, the present method
can treat graft-versus-host disease. Also provided is a method of
inhibiting a rejection response by inducing immune tolerance in a
recipient to a foreign mammalian donor tissue or cells, comprising the
steps of: a) exposing the recipient to an immunotoxin so as to reduce the
recipients's peripheral blood T-cell lymphocyte population by at least
80%, wherein the immunotoxin is anti-CD3 antibody linked to a diphtheria
protein toxin, wherein the protein has a binding site mutation; and b)
transplanting the donor cells into the recipient, whereby a rejection
response by the recipient to the donor organ cell is inhibited, and the
host is tolerized to the donor cell.