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Studies on Pneumococcal Polysaccharide

II. Mechanism Involved in Production of "Immunological Paralysis" by Type I Pneumococcal Polysaccharide¹

Department of Chemistry and Bacteriology, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio

Abstract

Various mechanisms which have been suggested to account for "immunological paralysis" following injection of large doses of SI have been reviewed. Experimental evidence does not support some of these.

When 500 µg of C¹⁴-SI is injected into mice the radioactivity of splenic extracts remains essentially unaltered for the period of one year, indicating persistence in the animal tissue of the antigen or of some complex formed with it. In contrast free antigenic C¹⁴-SI in the spleen at the end of one year is reduced to approximately 1.5 per cent of that present two days after injection. Preliminary experiments indicate that mice which have been immunized by injection of an antigenic dose of SI promptly lose their immunity when given 500 µg, as would be expected if the mechanism postulated is true.

These results are consistent with the hypothesis that "immunological paralysis" is a result of the removal of antibodies as rapidly as formed through union with the excess antigen. This mechanism would account for the fact that larger than minimal dosages of SI require longer periods for the production of free antibodies. Studies of dosage size might show that many antigens may produce short term deleterious effects on the degree of immunity produced when injected in large doses.

Footnotes

¹ This investigation was supported in part by a research grant, E-162(C), from the Division of Research Grants of the National Institutes of Health, Public Health Service.