Immunological Paralysis induced by an Idiotypic Antigen

Abstract

A DIRECT association presumably exists between idiotypic specificity and the structure of the antibody site. The level of a particular idiotype should therefore vary in normal individuals and could reach relatively high levels after prolonged immunization with a homogeneous antigen. There must therefore be a mechanism which prevents autoimmunization by idiotypes. Two such mechanisms which have been suggested are (1) that an animal is tolerant of (paralysed by) its own idiotypic determinants¹, and (2) that an antigen can only be an immunogen when it carries two widely separated determinants which enable it to participate by means of a carrier-effect mechanism^2–4, in a cooperative act between two kinds of cell involved in the immune response⁵. Hypothesis (2) is contradicted by the results described in the previous article⁶, where the dinitrophenyl derivative of myeloma protein 5563 (DNP-5563) failed to elicit an immune response without previous or concomitant immunization against the DNP group, and also by the known capacity of multideterminant antigens such as mammalian γ-globulins to induce paralysis rather than immunity in adult animals.