Kagami S, Miyao M, Shimizu F, Oite T
Department of Immunology, Niigata University School of Medicine, Japan.
Clin Exp Immunol. 1988 Oct;74(1):121-5.
The role of epitope density in cationic antigen was investigated in an active model of in situ immune complex glomerulonephritis (ICGN) using the hapten-carrier system. Trinitrophenol (TNP) was conjugated with variable density to cationic human immunoglobulin (C-HIgG) to yield TNP6.2-C-HIgG (low-valency antigen) and TNP31.3-C-HIgG (high-valency antigen). In rats preimmunized with TNP17.3-bovine serum albumin (BSA), endocapillary proliferative GN with proteinuria developed in rats receiving high-valency antigen. In contrast, no significant abnormalities in renal histology or urinalysis were observed when a low-valency antigen was injected. These results indicate that glomerular injury produced by hapten-specific immune reaction is affected by the number of haptenic groups conjugated to the carrier molecule (epitope density) in active in situ ICGN.
利用半抗原-载体系统，在原位免疫复合物肾小球肾炎（ICGN）的活性模型中研究了表位密度在阳离子抗原中的作用。将三硝基苯酚（TNP）以可变密度与阳离子人免疫球蛋白（C-HIgG）偶联，得到TNP6.2-C-HIgG（低价抗原）和TNP31.3-C-HIgG（高价抗原）。在用TNP17.3-牛血清白蛋白（BSA）预免疫的大鼠中，接受高价抗原的大鼠出现了伴有蛋白尿的毛细血管内增生性肾小球肾炎。相比之下，注射低价抗原时，未观察到肾脏组织学或尿液分析有明显异常。这些结果表明，在活性原位ICGN中，由半抗原特异性免疫反应产生的肾小球损伤受与载体分子偶联的半抗原基团数量（表位密度）的影响。
