Suppression of established IgE antibody responses with isologous anti-idiotypic antibodies in guinea pigs.

Guinea pigs of strains 2 and 13 can produce isologous anti-idiotypic (aIds) antibodies against anti-benzylpenicilloyl (anti-BPO) IgG, following immunization with affinity-purified anti-BPO antibodies of the same strain. The specificity of aId was determined by inhibition of binding of aId to Fab(t) in ELISA. The results showed that the reaction of strain 2 (anti-BPO)aId can be inhibited with syngeneic anti-BPO Fab(t) and to a smaller degree with anti-BPO Fab(t) of strain 13. On the other hand, strain 13 (anti-BPO)aId reacted exclusively with syngeneic anti-BPO Fab(t). In both cases, binding of aId to anti-BPO Fab(t) could not be inhibited with BPO-epsilon-aminocaproic acid, indicating that these aId are not directed against the antigen-combining site. The effect of isologous aId on both short- and long-time established IgE responses was studied in guinea pigs of strain 13. In both situations, administration of isologous aId resulted in suppression of the anti-BPO IgE antibody response. The suppressive effect was antigen-specific and lasted for several weeks: in the case of an early-response IgE remained suppressed despite additional booster injections of antigen. In contrast to the IgE response, the production of anti-BPO IgG antibodies was only slightly affected.