Chronic treatment with rabbit anti-mouse mu-chain antibody alters the characteristic immunoglobulin heavy-chain restriction of murine suppressor T-cell factors.

Abstract

Prolonged treatment of mice, starting at birth, with rabbit anti-mouse .mu.-chain antibodies resulted in the elimination of Ig-bearing B cells in these animals. The ability of these animals to elicit antigen-specific delayed-type hypersensitivity or cytotoxic T cell responses to azobenzenearsonate-coupled spleen cells was not impaired. The effect of anti-.mu. treatment on the restriction by Ig H chain genes (Igh) of suppressor T cells was investigated. First-order suppressor T cell factor (TsF1) obtained from anti-.mu. treated animals expresses an Igh restriction pattern distinct from that observed with TsF1 from normal untreated mice. TsF1 prepared from anti-.mu. treated animals did not express the major crossreactive idiotypic determinants normally present in TsF1. The significance of these findings in relation to the role of Ig on the T cell repertoire is discussed.