HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Henney, C. S. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Henney, C. S.

The Specificity of the Early Immune Response

I. A comparison of the specificity of delayed hypersensitivity and humoral responses Following immunization with human G globulin

From the World Health Organization, Immunoglobulin Reference Centre, Institute of Biochemistry, Lausanne, Switzerland

Abstract

The specificity of circulating antibody and delayed hypersensitivity (DHS) was studied in both normal and Fab, Fc tolerant guinea pigs immunized with human G globulin (HGG). During the first 2 weeks after immunization, between 88% and 100% of the circulating antibody in both normal and Fab, Fc tolerant animals was found to be specific for the intact HGG molecule and did not react with Fab or Fc fragments. By the 6th week, antibody of this specificity accounted for about 60% of the total antibody in the tolerant animals but only about 15% in normal animals. Such antibody was not associated with any particular immunoglobulin class, activity being demonstrated by radioimmunoelectrophoretic and antigen-binding studies to occur in both 1 and 2 globulin fractions. Antibody against Fab and Fc fragments was not demonstrable in sera from normal animals until the 3rd week following immunization, but in later sera accounted for about 80% of the total antibody production. Little or no antibody against such fragments was demonstrable in the sera of the tolerant animals. Skin testing with HGG, Fab and Fc fragments elicited comparable areas of erythema in normal animals over a wide range of antigen doses on several occasions following immunization. Fab, Fc tolerant animals on the other hand, gave DHS reactions only with the intact HGG molecule. There thus appears to be a difference in the specificity of humoral and cell mediated responses to HGG, particularly in the first 2 weeks after immunization. It is considered possible that the earliest humoral response might, as a general phenomenon, have a specificity directed against the intact configurational form of an antigen.