RELATION BETWEEN B-CELL STIMULATION AND DELAYED-HYPERSENSITIVITY - EFFECT OF CYCLOPHOSPHAMIDE PRETREATMENT ON ANTIBODY-PRODUCTION

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  • 1 January 1977
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 32  (6) , 885-891
Abstract
Cyclophosphamide (CY), which can enhance some forms of delayed-type hypersentitivity if given 3 days before immunization, is also a potent suppressor of most antibody mediated 4 h skin reactions to protein antigens. Many hemagglutinating antibodies, which are present in serum at the time of skin testing, are not similarly suppressed. Antibody titers in some sera recovered from CY-pretreated guinea-pigs differ little from titers in control sera. This resistance to CY suggests that long-lived precursors characterize the B[bone marrow-derived]-cell lines that produce many hemagglutinating antibodies, whereas the CY-sensitive precursors of skin reactive antibodies, which mediate Arthus-type reactions, are probably rapidly dividing, short-lived cells. The novel appearance of BGC [bovine .gamma. globulin] antibodies in sera from CY-pretreated animals immunized with DNP [dinitrophenylated]50-BGG indicates that hemagglutinating antibody responses to some antigens are regulated by CY-sensitive mechanisms.