T-cell-priming characteristics of modified timothy grass pollen antigen B1.

Previous studies demonstrated that antigen B (AgB), a major antigen of timothy grass pollen, modified by photooxidation (Ox-AgB), does not react with rabbit, human, or mouse antibodies directed against AgB and does not induce antibodies reactive with either native or modified AgB. In this paper we show that Ox-AgB retains an estimated 70% of the lymphocyte-activating properties and a significant amount of the T-cell-priming capabilities of AgB.