DIRECT AND INDIRECT SUPPRESSION INDUCED BY ANTI-IDIOTYPE ANTIBODY IN THE INULIN-BACTERIAL LEVAN ANTIGENIC SYSTEM

Our findings on the suppression of anti-inulin [β(2 → 1) fructosan] antibody synthesis by anti-idiotype antibodies are reviewed in this communication. Treatment with anti-idiotype antibodies leads to suppression of those B cells which can secrete antibodies bearing that idiotype (direct suppression). This suppression was achieved in three models: maternally induced, pretreatment of 1-day old BALB/c mice with anti-idiotype antibody and similar treatment of adult BALB/c mice. Maternally and neonatally induced suppression was more profound and longer than suppression in adults. The direct suppression appears to be largely independent of T cell influence. In addition, we report a new phenomenon (indirect suppression), which is the inhibition by anti-E109 idiotype antibody of an E109- antibody response, to antigenic determinants borne on the same carrier molecule as the β(2 → 1 ) fructosan determinant. Indirect suppression provides an important model for probing aspects of the regulation of clonal expression through idiotype specific molecules. © 1979.