Isotypic and idiotypic characterization of anti-bee venom phospholipase A2 antibodies.

It was shown that anti-bee venom phospholipase A2 antibodies (anti-PLA) of bee keepers belong mainly to the IgG4 class. Furthermore anti-PLA of different individuals are idiotypically related to each other. This was shown by the binding of heterologous antiidiotypic antibodies, produced against anti-PLA IgG from single donors, to anti-PLA F(ab')2 of different individuals. Therefore, the anti-PLA response provides a human model to study the idiotypic regulation of isotypes in a defined system.