Phillips S M, Lin J J, Walker D J, Linette G P, Fathelbab N G, Perrin P J
Allergy and Immunology Section, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia 19104.
J Immunol. 1990 May 15;144(10):4005-10.
These studies explore the suppression of resistance to schistosomiasis mansoni through interactions of autologous immune functions derived from an induced anti-idiotypic response. This anti-clonotypic response is induced by immunization with syngeneic L3T4+ receptor-bearing lymphoblasts and for the sake of description is termed "auto-anti-idiotypic". It is antigenically restricted and cannot be induced by allogeneic cells. Anti-idiotypic immunization profoundly suppressed the development of protective immunity after exposure to irradiated cercariae and altered a wide variety of functional humoral and cellular immune responses to the parasite. In addition to quantitative suppressive effects, the anti-idiotypic network also regulated qualitative aspects of the immune response by increasing the heterogeneity and reducing the functional binding avidity of antibody for Ag. These effects also were reflected in analogous alterations in cellular reactivity, using the criteria of the Ag mediated blast transformation and delayed type hypersensitivity. Thus idiotypic regulation can mold the specificity and sensitivity of the immune response to Schistosoma mansoni by affecting quantitative and qualitative responses. Manipulation of idiotypic recognition provides an approach to optimize the expression of protective resistance to schistosomiasis.
