The effect of antilymphocytic antibody on the humoral immune response in different strains of mice. 3. The response to type 3 pneumococcus polysaccharide.

  • 1 June 1973
    • journal article
    • Vol. 24  (6) , 1075-85
Abstract
The effect of a single batch of horse anti-mouse thymocyte globulin on the immune response to type III polysaccharide antigen has been investigated in 2–3-month-old male A/HeJ, C57B1, BALB/c, DBA/1, CBA and C3H mice. In almost all cases the intraperitoneal administration of 5 mg of this material on days –4 and –2 significantly suppressed the immune response to 0.1, 1.0 and 5.0 μg of antigen injected i.v. on day 0. Further studies undertaken in BALB/c mice indicated that effective suppression of the immune response to type III polysaccharide antigen could also be achieved by injecting 5 mg of this product (i.p.) some 15–30 minutes prior to antigenic challenge. Preliminary cell reconstitution studies in antilymphocytic antibody-treated CBA mice indicate that the ability to respond to type III polysaccharide can be partially restored by the injection of syngeneic thymocytes, bone marrow cells or spleen cells.