Duration of Antibody Response to Soluble Antigen

Abstract

ANTIBODY production after immunization with particulate antigens is known to persist over long periods of time. By contrast, immunization with soluble antigens in the absence of adjuvants is generally thought to give responses of relatively brief duration. Recently, it has been reported that antibody production continued for several hundred days in rabbits given one or several intravenous injections of a number of soluble antigens¹. Antibody produced late in the course of the response gave negative ring tests, failed to sensitize the guinea pig intestine, and could be detected only by a passive hæmagglutination technique. This communication is concerned with similar observations on the response of chickens to intravenous injections of bovine serum albumin (BSA). One major finding of this study is the persistence of precipitating antibody up to 313 days after injection.