MHC-restriction of antibody responses to an 86 kilodalton antigen of Schistosoma mansoni.

The previously observed MHC-restriction of the antibody response to an 86kDa S. mansoni antigen has been investigated in more detail. The I-A locus of the H-2 complex has been implicated as conferring responder or non-responder status on mice expressing the k and b alleles respectively. Inheritance of responsiveness was dominant over non-responsiveness. An additional level of complexity was observed in the p86 antibody responder status of individuals within a responding inbred strain. This could not be accounted for directly by the level of patent infection, but showed an inverse correlation with the level of egg output in H-2k mice. Differential antibody responsiveness to other antigens, between individuals of the same strain, occurred independently of the differential responsiveness to p86.