Suppression of anti-hapten IgE and IgG antibody responses by isologous anti-idiotypic antibodies against purified anti-carrier (ovalbumin) antibodies in BALB/c mice.

The studies described here show that BALB/c mice actively producing isologous anti-idiotypic antibodies (ald) after immunization with purified, syngeneic anti-OvA antibodies exhibit depressed anti-hapten and anti-carrier IgE and IgG antibody responses, provided that hapten-OVA conjugates are used to mount the immune responses. We suggest that carrier-specific helper T cells (CTh) for IgE and IgG antibody production carry idiotypes similar or identical to those among purified anti-OVA IgG antibodies. The mode of regulation of immune responses by anti-carrier-ald may be different from that exerted by anti-hapten-alD. Although anti-carrier-ald may block or deplete CTh and thereby prevent help for immunoglobulin production by B cells, anti-hapten-ald may induce T suppressor cells (Ts).