Studies on the control of antibody synthesis. XVII. Effect of specific suppressor cells on the affinity of the antibody response by naive or primed lymphocytes.

A comparison was made of the effects of carrier-specific helper T-cell tolerance and carrier-specific suppressor cells on the affinity of the anti-hapten PFC produced in both a primary and secondary anti-hapten response. Carrier-specific suppressor T cells caused a striking preferential loss of high affinity PFC in the primary response, but had only a slight effect on the affinity of the anti-hapten PFC formed in the secondary response. A carrier-specific state of tolerance, induced at a dosage which was shown not to generate significant suppressor cell activity, was associated with minimal alterations in the affinity of the primary anti-hapten PFC response. Carrier specific tolerance, induced in animals which had been previously primed to the hapten on a different carrier, had little or no effect on the affinity of the PFC response.