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A Study of the Cell-Mediated and Antibody Responses to Synthetic Ribonucleic Acids in Guinea Pigs

Laboratory of Immunology, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and Arthritis and Rheumatism Branch, National Institute of Arthritis and Metabolic Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20014

Abstract

The cellular and humoral immune responses to two synthetic double stranded polyribonucleotides (RNA) were investigated in strain 2, strain 13, and Hartley guinea pigs. When animals were immunized with RNA without protein carrier or adjuvant a barely detectable antibody response was obtained. Somewhat more antibody was produced when the RNA was emulsified with adjuvant. Maximal antibody responses could only be obtained by immunization with RNA complexed with methylated bovine serum albumin given in adjuvant. RNA was capable of eliciting acute systemic anaphylaxis in animals immunized with RNA. RNA failed to elicit either delayed cutaneous sensitivity or in vitro lymphocyte transformation and anamnestic responses were not obtained after boosting with RNA alone. Partial tolerance to RNA could be induced by injecting RNA and cyclophosphamide. This data is interpreted to mean that RNA has little if any carrier function and that the small amount of antibody produced after immunization with RNA alone may be due to direct stimulation of bone marrow-derived lymphocytes.