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A study of auto-anti-idiotypes to BSA

University of British Columbia

In order to study the idiotypic relationships between the antibody populations produced in different species during normal immune responses to ordinary protein antigens, we raised immune sera in mice and chickens using three protein antigens: Bovine serum albumin (BSA), keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH) and diphtheria toxoid (DT). An avidin-biotin ELISA was used to measure idiotypic binding between antibody populations from these sera. We found that the chicken sera contained auto-anti-idiotypes (AAI) against antigen specific antibodies which were present in the same serum and which co-purified with those antibodies on antigen-sepharose columns. These AAI were present in secondary response chicken anti-BSA serum at levels comparable to that of the anti-BSA antibody. The chicken AAI also react specifically with Ids in mouse anti-BSA serum. Mouse anti-BSA serum completely inhibited the binding between the chicken Id and AAI. This similarity between the idiotypes of whole populations of antibodies produced in two distantly related species, in the absence of any manipulation with idiotypic or anti-idiotypic reagents, suggests that the AAI detected in this way are internal image antibodies. It indicates there is positive selection for such auto-anti-idiotypes to be internal images.

Text

2010-08-16

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http://hdl.handle.net/2429/27425

Microbiology and Immunology

University of British Columbia

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