Enhancing effect of murine anti-idiotypic serum on the proliferative response specific for poly(LTyr, LGlu)-poly(DLAla)--poly(LLys)[(T,G)-A--L].

Murine anti-idiotypic serum against C3 H.SW anti-poly(LTyr, LGlu)-poly(DLAla)--poly(LLys)[(T,G)-A--L] antibodies was elicited in C57BL/6 mice. The effect of the anti-idiotypes on the proliferation of primed lymph node cells was investigated. The anti-idiotypic serum stimulated the proliferative response of the (T,G)-A--L-specific lymph node cells as well as of nylon wool-enriched T cells. In the presence of suboptimal doses of (T,G)-A--L, the addition of the anti-idiotypes enhanced the proliferation to the levels obtained with the optimal dose of (T,G)-A--L itself. These results suggest the existence of shared idiotypic determinants between antibodies and the (T,G)-A--L-specific proliferative T cells.