T cells specific to hapten carrier but not to carrier alone assist in the production of anti-hapten and anti-carrier antibodies.
We examined the immune response of Balb/c mice to antigens prepared by conjugating 2-phenyloxazolone (phOx) to a foreign protein, ovalbumin (OVA), or a self-protein, mouse serum albumin (MSA), in order to study how these chemical modifications would affect immune recognition. We found that anti-OVA antibodies and CD4(+) T cells produced by OVA immunization reacted with OVA as well as with phOx-OVA. Anti-phOx antibodies were produced by phOx-OVA immunization and, interestingly, T cells from these mice reacted only with phOx-OVA but not with the intact OVA. These results suggested that the classical model of hapten-carrier immunization, in which B cells specific to hapten are activated with assistance from T cells specific to a carrier protein, might not be a major route for production of anti-hapten antibodies in hapten-carrier immunization. Furthermore, phOx-MSA immunization induced production of anti-phOx antibodies, which could not be accounted for in terms of the assistance of carrier-specific T cells because of the absence of MSA-specific T cells. Therefore, we proposed a new model in which anti-hapten B cells are assisted by T cells specific to the haptenated carrier.
Shimizu
Takeyuki
T
Division of Structural Immunology, Research Institute for Biological Sciences, Tokyo University of Science, Yamazaki 2669, Noda, Chiba 278-0022, Japan.
Osaka
Yuko
Y
Banri-Koike
Chihiro
C
Yoshida
Maiko
M
Endo
Kanako
K
Furukawa
Koji
K
Oda
Masayuki
M
Murakami
Akikazu
A
Ogawa
Shuhei
S
Abe
Ryo
R
Azuma
Takachika
T
D000818:Animals; D000906:Antibodies / Q000378:metabolism*; D000917:Antibody Formation; D000941:Antigens / Q000276:immunology; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D006241:Haptens / Q000276:immunology*; D007114:Immunization; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D010047:Ovalbumin / Q000276:immunology; D010081:Oxazolone / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000276:immunology
D000906:Antibodies; D000941:Antigens; D006241:Haptens; C018361:2-phenyloxazolone; D010081:Oxazolone; D010047:Ovalbumin