Clonal analysis of autoreactive B cells in a murine model of autoimmune hemolytic anemia.
Hybridoma technology was used to examine the repertoire of autoantibody producing B cells in mice with autoimmune hemolytic anemia induced by injection of rat red blood cells (RBC). The results point to the importance of suppressor T cells (Ts) in both the induction as well as the maintenance of the self-specific B-cell repertoire at the clonal level. Thus when normal BALB/c mice were immunized to provoke a high autoantibody response, the hybrids generated were mainly (97%) cross-reactive with mouse RBC, whereas after immunization to elicit Ts and a low autoantibody response, hybrids were mainly (87%) rat RBC specific. In addition, when hybrids were generated from rat RBC immunized (CBA X B10A)F1 mice, in which Ts levels had been depleted during ontogeny, hybrids with "forbidden" purely anti-self (mouse RBC) specificity were detected.
D000743:Anemia, Hemolytic / Q000276:immunology*; D000818:Animals; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal / Q000276:immunology; D000918:Antibody Specificity; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000276:immunology*; D001327:Autoimmune Diseases / Q000276:immunology*; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D003429:Cross Reactions; D004306:Dose-Response Relationship, Immunologic; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000276:immunology; D051379:Mice; D006377:T-Lymphocytes, Helper-Inducer / Q000276:immunology*; D050378:T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory / Q000276:immunology*
D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D001323:Autoantibodies