The use of unideterminant fragments of ferredoxin in the genetic mapping of determinant specificity of the immune response

Isolation of a T-cell clone that reacts with both antigen and anti-idiotype: evidence for anti-idiotype as internal image for antigen at the T-cell level

T-cell lines were derived from ferredoxin nonresponder B10.D2 mice that share an idiotype expressed by a monoclonal antibody (Fd-B2) with specificity for one of the two major antigenic determinants (the C determinant) of the antigen. The T-cell line and T-cell clones derived from it release interleukin 2 not only in the presence of anti-Fd-B2 idiotype antibody but in the presence of ferredoxin. The line was shown to be major histocompatibility complex-restricted in that it would respond to the anti-idiotype and antigen only in the context of presentation by cells of the H-2d haplotype. This observation also establishes that the nonresponder status of H-2d animals cannot be attributed to a lesion at the level of antigen presentation. Analysis of the fine specificity of one idiotypic clone showed that it responded only to the anti-idiotype or products of the antigen containing the C determinant, since enzymatically degraded peptides devoid of this determinant did not stimulate these cells. Furthermore, it was found that presentation of both the antigen and the anti-idiotype to the specific clone could be blocked by the Fd-B2 monoclonal antibody.

Antigenic domains of the sperm-specific lactate dehydrogenase C4 isozyme

Lactate dehydrogenase C4 (LDH-C4) is an antigenic protein that occurs only in spermatozoa and the mature testis. The antibody-combining sites of this enzyme were mapped by measuring the binding of anti-LDH-C4 by isolated peptides. Pure mouse LDH-C4 was digested with trypsin, and the resulting fragments were fractionated by reverse-phase high-pressure liquid chromatography. Rabbit anti-mouse LDH-C4 bound to 13 pure peptides. Amino acid compositions and partial or complete sequencing by the Edman degradation was used to identify eight of these fragments in the complete structure of the molecule. The relationship between structure and antigenicity of these peptides is discussed in detail. These data fit best to the domain model of protein antigenicity. This antigenic map of LDH-C4 will be useful in the design of a synthetic contraceptive vaccine.

Abrogation and reconstitution of nonresponsiveness: a correlation with high network connectivity

A monoclonal antibody (Fd-B2) to ferredoxin, which bears an idiotype scarcely expressed in any of a wide variety of mouse strains, is able to markedly enhance the response to ferredoxin of both high-responder and intermediate-responder strains. A rabbit anti-idiotype serum to Fd-B2 also specifically enhances the response to ferredoxin in such mice. Most remarkably, the treatment of nonresponder T cells by either the idiotype (Fd-B2) plus complement or anti-idiotype antiserum plus complement causes them to be responsive in adoptive transfer experiments. The two responding populations (idiotype-treated and anti-idiotype-treated) can then be combined to reconstitute the nonresponsive state. When the nonresponders are treated with either Fd-B2 idiotype plus complement or anti-idiotype plus complement and subsequently respond, the idiotype of the anti-ferredoxin antibody produced does not bear the Fd-B2 idiotype. We interpret the results as being consistent with a model in which the unresponsive state for ferredoxin is a state of high network connectivity of the ferredoxin-specific T cells.

Identification of an idiotypic marker of a major regulatory T cell of the immune response in B10.BR mice to ferredoxin. The relationship of idiotypic regulation to conventional hapten-carrier effects

An anti-idiotypic antiserum was raised in rabbits to a monoclonal antibody (Fd-1) with specificity for one (the N epitope) of the two antigenic epitopes found on the ferredoxin (Fd) molecule. The anti-idiotypic antiserum (anti-Fd-1) was used to demonstrate that the Fd-1 idiotype was expressed at significant levels in most anti-Fd antisera raised in B10.BR mice. Examination of antisera raised in other mouse strains demonstrated that expression of this idiotype mapped to the IgH gene complex and was found in the antisera of all mouse strains examined with the Ig-1 allotype. When splenocytes from Fd-immune B10.Br mice were treated with anti-Fd-1 and transferred to irradiated syngeneic recipients, the adoptive secondary response was significantly higher in animals receiving treated cells as opposed to control animals, which received normal rabbit serum-treated cells. This response produced a net increase in antibody to both determinants, and the relative amount of Fd-1 idiotype was not significantly altered. Further studies with separated cell populations showed that the overall increase of anti-Fd antibody produced was attributable to the effects of the anti-idiotypic serum on a population(s) of T cells. Treatment of mice with the Fd-1 monoclonal antibody (which should react with anti-idiotypic cells) had an analogous effect to that of the anti-idiotype, in that mice so treated produced higher concentrations of anti-Fd antibodies when they were immunized and these antibodies exhibited net increases to both determinants. A model is presented to explain these results.