Journal of Experimental Medicine, Vol 152, 1262-1273, Copyright © 1980 by Rockefeller University Press
Late clonal selection and expansion of the TEPC-15 germ-line specificity
J Fung and H Kohler
The maturation of the antibody response to phosphorylcholine (PC) in
neonatal BALB/c mice was studied. A T cell-independent class 1 1 PC-
antigen, 3-(p-azophenyl phosphorylcholine)-N-acetyl-L- tyrosylglycylglycine
lipopolysaccharide, was synthesized and used to immunize neonatal mice of
different ages. The earliest anti-PC hemolytic plaque-forming response
could be induced in 1-d-old neonates. Idiotype analysis on these early
anti-PC antibodies showed that the response was not TEPC-15 dominant
although TEPC-15-positive plaque- forming cells were detected. However,
idiotype analysis of the anti-PC- LPS response in 7 d or older animals
indicated that clonal dominance had been established. Similar results were
obtained in splenic fragment culture with cells from neonatal livers and
spleens. PC-specific precursors were detected in the liver of 1-d-old
neonates, whereas the spleen of those animals contained no precursors for
PC. Precursors for PC residing in the neonatal liver are not TEPC-15
dominant, whereas the splenic PC precursors of 5- to 6-day-old animals
express the TEPC-15 idiotype dominatly. These findings demonstrate that
during ontogeny PC- specific B cells appear before the TEPC-15 clone
becomes dominant. Thus clonal dominance in the adult anti-PC response and
late acquisition of the TEPC-15 specificity during ontogeny do not signify
a particularly unique or direct relationship to the expression of genes
encoded in the germline.
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