Anti-idiotypic antibody in rat transplantation immunity. I. Production of anti-idiotypic antibody in animals repeatedly immunized with alloantigens.

Abstract

Lewis × Brown Norway (LBN) F1 antiserum to an idiotype of Lewis anti-BN alloantibody (referred to as the Id-1 idiotype) was used to test a variety of Lewis alloimmune sera for the presence of Id-1. Several such Lewis sera raised by BN antigen injection at monthly intervals possessed the Id-1 idiotype. Hyperimmune Lewis anti-BN alloantiserum raised by six weekly injections of BN antigen, however, did not possess the Id-1 idiotype, but appeared to possess anti-idiotypic antibody to Id-1 instead. The anti-BN hemagglutinin titer, anti-idiotypic antibody titer to Id-1, and levels of the Id-1 idiotype were then measured in individual weekly serum samples from Lewis rats repeatedly immunized with BN antigen. The anti-BN hemagglutinin titers followed a cyclical pattern, with the Id-1 idiotype predominating only in the first cycle of the anti-BN hemagglutinin response. Anti-idiotypic antibody was demonstrable in five of eight repeatedly immunized rats, and in each of these five animals the appearance of anti-idiotypic antibody to Id-1 followed the clearance of Id-1 from the serum. Anti-idiotypic antibody may play a role in the regulation or control of an established immune response.