Idiotype suppression. III. Induction of unresponsiveness to sensitization with anti‐idiotypic antibody: identification of the cell types tolerized in high zone and in low zone, suppressor cellmediated, idiotype suppression

摘要

AbstractUnresponsiveness of strain A/J mice to sensitization with guinea pig IgG anti‐A5A idiotypic antibody is induced by prior injection of guinea pig IgG2anti‐A5A idiotypic antibody or unfractionated anti‐A5A antiserum. Two different forms of unresponsiveness could be induced depending on the dose of IgG2anti‐A5A: high‐zone suppression was maximal one week after injection, could not be transferred by lymphocytes and disappeared within 3 to 4 weeks. Low‐zone suppression took 7 weeks to fully develop and could be transferred by splenic and lymph node T cells.High‐zone suppression is expressed as transient unresponsiveness in both the A5A‐idiotype‐positive T helper as well as B precursor cell compartments. Low‐zone, suppressor cell‐mediated suppression is expressed as chronic unresponsiveness in the A5A‐idiotype‐positive T helper cell compartment only, whereas the A5A‐idiotype‐positive B precursor cells remain fully responsive as revealed by addition of nonsuppressed T helper cells. These data satisfactorily explain that suppression of T helper cell‐independent idiotypes does not involve T suppressor cells. However, since the presence of suppressor T cells is accompanied by selective unresponsiveness of A5A‐positive B cells, the data imply that idiotypic restr