The use of antiidiotypic antibodies as vaccines against infectious agents.

The development of the antibodies to the combining site of an antigen-binding antibody has been documented in humans as well as experimental animals. These antibodies have been shown in experimental models to have an important regulatory role in their ability to affect both B- and T-cell responses to antigen. Recently, with the development of technology for cloning T cells, it has been possible to produce monoclonal antibodies to the T-cell receptor proteins. These T-cell antiidiotypic antibodies have been shown to activate both B- and T-cell responses. For this reason, such reagents have the potential to be used as nonantigen-containing immunogens. Our work has demonstrated that such monoclonal anti-T-cell antiidiotypes are capable of stimulating immunity to lethal viral infections. The implications of the use of antiidiotypes against infectious organisms are discussed.