Enhancing antibody: a novel component of the immune response.
Current descriptions of the immune response identify two classes of antigenic stimuli that result in the production of specific antibody: (i) exogenous antigens and (ii) endogenous variable-region determinants of the immune system. We expand this scheme to include a third class of antigenic stimulus--new determinants created by the binding of antibody to antigen. This paper describes a set of monoclonal antibodies which arose after repeated immunization with antigen alone but which bound antibody--antigen complexes. These antibodies recognize determinants on the antibody portion of the complexes that were expressed as a consequence of antigen binding. Antibodies of this general type, "enhancing antibodies," which can strengthen antibody--antigen and idiotypic-anti-idiotypic antibody interactions, may play important regulatory and effector roles in the immune response. We suggest a model that predicts the occurrence and specificity of different classes of such antibodies and provides a conceptual framework that gives a straightforward explanation of the appearance in the immune response of rheumatoid antibodies and of antibodies that bind cooperatively to antigen.
D000818:Animals; D000888:Antibodies, Anti-Idiotypic / Q000276:immunology*; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D000936:Antigen-Antibody Complex; D000939:Epitopes; D007130:Immunoglobulin Idiotypes; D051379:Mice; D008815:Mice, Inbred Strains; D010132:p-Azobenzenearsonate / Q000276:immunology
D000888:Antibodies, Anti-Idiotypic; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D000936:Antigen-Antibody Complex; D000939:Epitopes; D007130:Immunoglobulin Idiotypes; D010132:p-Azobenzenearsonate