title: Use of anti-idiotypic antibodies as probes for the interaction of TSH subunits with its receptor.
abstract: TSH is a heterodimeric glycoprotein hormone, whose dissociated subunits are without biological activity. This has precluded the assessment of the relative contribution of each subunit to hormone action. We have raised anti-idiotypes to monoclonal antibodies specific, respectively, for the alpha and beta hTSH subunits. The anti-beta anti-idiotype inhibited 125I-hTSH binding to the beta subunit-specific monoclonal quantitatively, whereas 125I-hTSH binding to the alpha subunit-specific monoclonal was not inhibited by anti-alpha anti-idiotypes, suggesting that only the former is an "internal image" anti-idiotype. Neither of the two anti-idiotypes nor equimolar mixtures thereof inhibited 125I-bTSH binding to thyroid membranes, even though radiolabelled anti-idiotypes showed saturable binding to thyroid plasma membrane which was inhibited 41-65% by bTSH. Each anti-idiotype alone caused 9% inhibition (compared to 50% by NRIgG) of thyroid plasma membrane adenylate cyclase. Equimolar mixtures (125 micrograms/ml IgG of each anti-idiotype) induced enzyme activity equivalent to 85% of that of 250 mU/ml of TSH. The TSH-like action of the two anti-idiotypes was also reflected in their capacity to increase (450% by 250 micrograms/ml IgG compared to normal rabbit IgG) the uptake of 131I into isolated thyrocytes and to promote the organization of such cells into follicular structures. At 250 micrograms/ml, anti-beta anti-idiotype promoted the organization of small follicles and only at a concentration of 500 micrograms/ml did it enhance 131I uptake.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000888:Antibodies, Anti-Idiotypic / Q000276:immunology*; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal / Q000276:immunology; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D007130:Immunoglobulin Idiotypes / Q000276:immunology*; D011487:Protein Conformation; D011989:Receptors, Thyrotropin / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D013552:Swine; D013961:Thyroid Gland / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D013972:Thyrotropin / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000888:Antibodies, Anti-Idiotypic; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D007130:Immunoglobulin Idiotypes; D011989:Receptors, Thyrotropin; D013972:Thyrotropin