STUDIES ON B-CELL MEMORY .2. T-CELL INDEPENDENT ANTIGEN CAN INDUCE B-CELL MEMORY

  • 1 January 1979
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 38  (2) , 291-299
Abstract
Athymic nude mice and normal mice primed with a T[thymus-derived]-cell independent antigen, i.e., dinitrophenylated dextran (DNP-DE), at a sub-immunogenic dose, produced very poor anti-DNP responses to later challenge with the same antigen. B[bone marrow-derived]-cell memory was expressed as an enhanced Ig[immunoglobulin]M response after the challenge of DNP-DE-primed mice with the T-cell dependent antigen (dinitrophenylated [keyhole limpet] hemocyanin, DNP-KLH) in presence of functional T-cells. DNP-DE-primed spleen cells revealed an enhanced IgM response after adoptive transfer into irradiated recipients and challenge with DNP-DE. Injections of DNP-DE-primed nude mouse serum into unprimed mice resulted in reduction of anti-DNP response to immunization with DNP-DE. T-cell independent DNP-DE may cause the differentiation of B cells into antibody-forming cells and into memory cells. These memory cells may be triggered in situ by T-cell dependent DNP-KLH in the presence of helper T-cells but not by T-cell independent antigen. Some humoral factor(s) induced by DNP-DE-priming may interfere with the expression of B cell memory only when challenged with T-cell independent DNP-DE.

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