Creation and properties of histocompatibility antigen-cell conjugates. II. Antibody tolerance after treatment with donor histocompatibility antigen chemically coupled to recipient spleen cells.

Histocompatibility (HC) antigens from Lewis (RT-11) and ACI (RT-1a) rats were solubilized and their tolerogenic potential alone or when conjugated to cellular carriers was investigated. The tolerogenic carrier potential of whole cells, crude membranes, and deoxycholate (DOC)-solubilized membranes was first determined by conjugating trinitrophenyl (TNP) groups to them and measuring their ability to prevent an anti-TNP plaque-forming cell response in rats after immunogenic challenge. Since whole lymphoid cells proved to be most effective in this system, DOC-solubilized allogeneic histocompatibility antigens were coupled to syngeneic lymphocytes, using carbodiimide cross-linking. Animals pretreated with this conjugate produced no alloantibody upon challenge with allogeneic cells. These results suggest that tolerance to allogeneic histocompatibility antigen can be produced by association of alloantigens on a tolerogenic self-carrier.