Augmentation of the antibody response by hapten help. II. Determination by many genes outside the MHC.

The purpose of the present work was to characterize the immune response (Ir) genes that influence augmentation of the antibody response by help with the hapten azobenzene-arsonate (ABA). Hapten help was measured as the augmentation in the plaque-forming cell (PFC) response to bovine gamma globulin (BGG) after priming mice with ABA conjugated to ovalbumin (OVA) and challenging subsequently with ABA-BGG. The first approach involved inbred mouse strains that were matched for H-2 but differed in their non-H-2 genetic backgrounds. B10.D2 mice were low responders even though they shared the H-2d haplotype with BALB/c and DBA/2 mice, which were high responders. C57BL/10 mice were high responders even though they shared the H-2b haplotype with C57BL/6, C3H.SW, and A.BY mice, all of which were strains that were low responders. The second approach was to identify any segregation of H-2 with the gene(s) encoding susceptibility to hapten help in the backcross generation. (BALB/c X C57BL/6) F1 hybrids were backcrossed to C57BL/6. The results showed no association with the major histocompatibility complex (MHC).