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The Role of Antigenic Determinants in the Control of IgM and IgG Antibody Responses to Denatured DNA¹

From the Department of Biochemistry and Pharmacology, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts 02111

Abstract

Rabbits immunized with complexes of denatured calf thymus DNA and methylated bovine serum albumin (MBSA) produced only IgM antibodies to denatured DNA, confirming the results of previous studies. In contrast, both IgM and IgG antibodies were induced by MBSA complexes of T4 and T6 bacteriophage DNA, in which the normal base cytosine is replaced by glucosylated hydroxymethylcytosine. The glucose in not essential for this switch, since a preparation of modified T2 phage DNA, which contained nonglucosylated hydroxymethylcytosine, also induced the formation of both classes of antibodies. With or without glycosylation, the hydroxymethylcytosine served as a dominating determinant for specificity as well as a signal for 7S antibody production. The validity of complement fixation as an assay for these responses was confirmed by quantitative precipitation tests.

Footnotes

¹ This work was supported in part by Grants GB5606, GB8064, and GB29628 from the National Science Foundation.

² Present address: the Department of Pathology, New York Medical College Center for Chronic Disease, Bird S. Coler Hospital, Welfare Island, New York, New York 10017.

³ Address reprint requests to B. David Stollar, Department of Biochemistry and Pharmacology, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts 02111.