• 1 January 1977
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 119 (4), 1406-1412
Abstract
Radioimmunoassays were developed that detect idiotypic (variable region) differences among the .alpha.(1 .fwdarw. 3) dextran-binding myeloma proteins U102, J558 and M104. An assay was also developed that detects variable region determinants common to all 3 proteins. Using these assays, 7S and 19S anti-.alpha.(1 .fwdarw. 3) dextran antibodies induced in 5 murine strains of the a1 IgCH linkage group and the recombinant strain BAB/14 were examined. All idiotypes were expressed in 19S and 7S antibodies from all strains, but with considerable strain-specific variability in penetrance. In 2 strains, 1 additional type of antibody, which lacked all 4 idiotypic determinants, generally constituted the bulk of total anti-.alpha.(1 .fwdarw. 3) dextran antibodies.