Ability of antigen-specific helper cells to effect a class-restricted increase in total Ig-secreting cells in spleens after immunization with the antigen.

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Abstract
Immunization with antigens [Ag] stimulates [mouse] B [bone marrow-derived] lymphocytes secreting specific antibody and results in the generation of very large numbers of splenic Ig[immunoglobulin]-secreting cells which lack specificity for that Ag. The nature of the Ag capable of eliciting this effect and the mechanisms whereby B cells could be nonspecifically activated were examined. The ability of T[thymus-derived] cell-dependent but not T cell-independent Ag to induce such increases requires the participation of T helper cells specific for the Ag so that any 1 Ag results in the activation of only a proportion of total B cells. Analysis of this non-specific plaque-forming cell response reveals that B cell activation is not random but occurs in a class-restricted manner. The magnitude of the increase and the isotype produced are characteristic of the immunizing Ag. The apparent non-specific T cell-B cell collaboration can best be explained by invoking a 2nd Ig-specific helper mechanism in which helper cells capable of recognizing determinants on Ig molecules, e.g., isotype or idiotype, cause the stimulation of B cells of any specificity providing they express that determinant.