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Rabbit antisera raised against antigens solubilized from the membranes of a transplantable Balb/c adenocarcinoma precipitated an antigen that was not expressed by the normal resting mammary gland or any other normal mouse tissue. The same antisera were used to show the presence of this antigen in other mammary adenocarcinomas, although not in tumours of different histological types. The antigen was, however, transiently expressed by mammary gland cells during the hyperplasia that both precedes and accompanies lactation. A connection is sought between the existence of this antigen and the membrane structural changes hat take place during mitosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To identify monoclonal bone marrow-derived (B) lymphocytes in human myelomatosis specific rabbit antisera were produced against idiotypic specificities on IgG-K myeloma proteins from three patients. The unlisera neither cross-reacted nor reacted with normal immunoglobulins. By indirect immunofluorescence surface Immunoglobulins were demonstrated on 20-47% of peripheral blood lymphocytes from untreated patients after staining with idiotypic antiserum against the patient's own myeloma protein, bul not after staining with other idiotypic antisera. The antisera also stained autologous plasma cells. The monoclonal surface Ig on myeloma lymphocytes was removed by trypsin and regenerated after incubation in serum-free medium. Myeloma protein was not adsorbed onto lymphocytes. It is concluded that monoclonal B lymphocytes belonging to the plasma cell myeloma clone are present In myeloma patients. There were few normal B lymphocytes in untreated patients. During treatment the monoclonal lymphocyte population and the plasma cells content in bone marrow, as well as the concentration of monoclonal immunoglobulin in serum, decreased simultaneously. These findings were associated with other signs of clinical improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Serial sera from nine volunteers, injected 10 years ago with sheep erythrocytes and showing heterophile antibody responses comparable to those seen in infectious mononucleosis, were retrieved from storage and examined for antibodies to Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) related antigens. Eight of the nine volunteers had preexisting antibodies to EBV, as determined by neutralization tests and by indirect immunofluorescence reactions with fluorescein-conjugated antibodies to human IgG, but not with anti-human IgM conjugates. The EBV-specific reactivities remained unchanged after immunization. The results indicate that: (a) EBV- or EBV antigen-containing lymphoblasts from carrier or freshly infected cultures contain no detectable heterophile antigen; (b) immunization with sheep erythrocytes does not evoke antibodies which interact with EBV or EBV-infected cells. These points are supported especially by the results obtained with the heterophile antibody-positive, anti-EBV-negative serum of one of the volunteers who subsequently sustained a primary EBV infection. It is unlikely, therefore, that immunization with heterophile antigen will induce immunity to infectious mononucleosis, apart from the fact that heterophile antibody responses are largely restricted to the IgM class. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purified thyroglobulin was digested with trypsin and papain and was also reduced with dithiothreitol and alkylated with iodoacetamide. The resulting fragments were separated and characterized by immunological techniques. Following enzymatic degradation a small fragment, termed fraction 2, was isolated. It had a sedimentation coefficient of approximately 3S and a mol. wt determined by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in presence of SDS was approximately 37,000 daltons. In the Ouchterlony test, it was antigenically deficient as compared with intact thyroglobulin, when rabbit antisera to human thyroglobulin were used. With human autoantisera, fraction 2 did not show any precipitin reaction in the Ouchterlony test. However, it produced weak inhibition in the tanned cell haemagglutination test. The fractions obtained from trypsin and papain digestion appeared to be immunologically identical. However, when these fractions were compared with the similar product obtained from reduced and alkylated thyroglobulin, the latter fraction showed a reaction of non-identity in the Ouchterlony test, and had a weaker inhibiting capacity in tanned cell haemagglutination test. The fraction produced by reduction and alkylation had a sedimentation coefficient of 8S and an approximate mol. wt of 38,500. It can be concluded that the small mol. wt fractions derived from enzymatic breakdown and by reduction and alkylation are different although both possess a number of antigenic determinants recognized by the rabbit antiserum and lack most of the autoantigenic determinants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Radioiodine-labelled globulins from antisera directed against mouse immunoglobulin, are fixed by cells of various mouse ascites tumours, thus indicating that the cells are coated in vivo with immunoglobulins. The amounts of tumour-bound immunoglobulin in the tumour-bearing animal increase as the time interval between tumour inoculation and the harvest of tumour cells increases. Tumour cells from mice which had been irradiated prior to the tumour inoculation are associated, in general, with lower amounts of immunoglobulin than tumour cells from unirradiated mice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A macrolipoprotein of human, rabbit and rat livers could be purified and characterized. The proteins were located on the membranes of isolated liver cells by indirect immunofluorescence technique using monospecific heterologous antisera. Antibody assays and immunofluorescence studies demonstrate a complete organspecificity, but incomplete species specificity of the membrane protein. The technique of isolating liver cells without the use of proteases is an improvement which will facilitate immunological in vitro studies on living hepatocytes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The serologic properties of turkey antisera to chicken bursa (ABS) and thymus (ATS) ceils were assayed by cytolysis-in-agar, conventional cytotoxicity tests and indirect immunofluorescence. Using proper absorptions the following antigenic surface determinants were detected on bursal and thymic lymphoid cells: (a) common lymphocyte antigens present on both kinds of cells; (b) thymus-specific antigens; (c) bursaspecific antigens; (d) in addition to the latter, bursa cells displayed immunoglobulin surface determinants. Even before absorption the anti-thymus and anti-bursa sera gave higher titres of reactions with homologous target cell preparations. In complement dependent cytotoxicity tests ABS and ATS reacted specifically with bursa and thymus cells respectively. In the spleen of 2- and 3-week-old chickens 20-30% of lymphoid cells were killed by ABS and 40-50% by ATS. The advantage of avian antilymphocyte sera for in vivo studies in chickens are emphasized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A liver-specific, water-soluble autoantigen (F-antigen) was detected by double diffuion using specifically prepared antiserum in thirty of 285 adult serum samples tested. F-antigen was found most frequently in disorders associated with hepatocellular destruction such as metastatic cancers (four of eleven patients) and viral hepatitis (eight of twenty-five). It was also found in serum from patients with cirrhosis (three of twenty-eight), steatonecrosis (two of thirteen) and hepatocellular carcinoma (two of eleven). These preliminary results suggest that further study of F-antigen in human disease states is warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ALG raised against lymphoblasts grown in pure culture for many generations contained antiplatelet activity. The thromboaggkitinins could be completely removed by absorption with lymphoblasts, indicating that they had been raised to antigens shared by lymphoblasts and platelets. Anti-spleen ALG possessed levels of such anti-platelet antibodies but in substantially higher titres, because an additional contribution was made by contaminating thrombocytes in the immunizing injectate. By chromatographic separation and immunoelectrophoretic analysis of the eluate from platelet-antibody complexes generated during the absorption of anti- spleen ALG with thrombocytes, the thromboagglutinins were shown to reside almost exclusively (977%) in the area of the IgA fraction. The direct Coombs' reacting platelets from patients receiving equine anti-spleen ALG with guinea-pig antisera against normal horse serum, showed a highly significant, but not in Variable correlation with clinical platelet depression, which was not, however, clearly related to the thromboagglutinin titre of the ALG being administered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The proliferative response of human blood lymphocytes to homologous cells in vitro (i.e. the mixed lymphocyte reaction) has been used as a model of cell-mediated immune responses to investigate the nature of the antigen receptor site involved in the initiation of these reactions. Pretreatment of lymphocytes with the Fabγ monomer of rabbit antisera to human immunoglobulin light chain determinants effectively suppressed subsequent responsiveness to antigen without impairing lymphocyte viability or response to phytohaemagglutinin. Experiments in which the dose of antigen and the time of addition of antigen relative to antiserum were varied suggested that anti-light chain antibodies compete with antigen for the receptor site. These results are discussed in relation to the problem of the chemical nature of the receptor site for transplantation reactions and delayed hypersensitivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The object of this study was to elucidate properties, organ specificity, and the occurrence in individual spermatozoa of the four antigens which can be identified in methanol-fixed human spermatozoa by the indirect immunofluorescence technique using human antisera, i.e. the antigen in the front part of the acrosome, in the equatorial segment, in the postnuclear region, and in the main tail piece. With unfixed spermatozoa the reactions were weak and often uncharacteristic. After fixation with ethanol and acetone all four antigens were preserved, while after fixation with formalin the postnuclear antigen was not demonstrable. The antigens in the equatorial segment and in the postnuclear region were destroyed at 60°C and those in the front part of the acrosome and in the tail at 80°C. After the spermatozoa had been treated with trypsin the reaction with the three antigens in the head disappeared. However, with rabbit antiserum to human spermatozoa fluorescence could be induced even after heating the spermatozoa to 100°C or treating them with trypsin. Absorption of the human antisera with seminal plasma, human milk, liver, kidney, and adrenal extract disclosed an antigenic relationship between the postnuclear antigen and seminal plasma as well as between the antigen in the front part of the acrosome and adrenal extract. By means of known antisera the occurrence of acrosome antigens in the individual spermatozoa was investigated in ejaculates from seventy-six male partners of infertile couples. In ejaculates with a normal concentration of spermatozoa the antigens were generally demonstrable in at least 50% of the spermatozoa, whereas samples with a low concentration showed a marked variation, the staining percentages ranging from 0 to 90%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rabbit antisera to human tracheal mucosa, liver and gastric mucosa, after complete absorption with human serum, reacted with extracts of all human tissues tested. Monkey tissue extracts also reacted, but tissues of other species did not. The reactions were attributed to `species-specific tissue antigens'. Two of the most prominent antigens were partially isolated and characterized by chromatography, gel filtration, and electrophoresis. Antigen I migrated as β2-globulin, Antigen E as a β1-globulin. The antigens persisted in malignant and in long-term cultured cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An antiserum was prepared by immunizing rabbits with human leukaemic tissue homogenate. Prior to immunization, the rabbits had been made tolerant to normal peripheral leucocytes by repeated injections during the neonatal period to suppress the appearance of antibodies against normal tissue components. When the anti- serum was tested. by gel diffusion, precipitation test, it gave one precipitin line against malignant tissue extracts from most leukaemia and lymphoma cases tested, and against normal thymuses and some spleens and lymph nodes as well. It did not react with tissue extracts prepared from normal non-lymphoid tissus. The antigen responsible for the reaction appeared in foetal thymus at 3 months of gestation and persisted throughout life. It appeared in embryonic spleen after 6 months of gestation and in lymph nodes even later, although in spleen and lymph nodes it was not as invariably demonstrated as in the thymus. Neoplasms of other than lymphoid origin were predominantly negative for the antigen; occasional exceptions were probably due to large amounts of infiltrating lymphoid tissue. Antigen localization was studied by the fluorescent antibody method. The cytoplasm of almost all thymocytes, about 30% spleen cells and 20-40% peripheral lymphocytes was stained. Bone marrow, brain, thyroid, liver and kidney cells were negative. The antigen was partially purified from the soluble Fraction of thymus homogenate by ion exchange column chromatography and preparative electrophoresis. Its possible use as a marker for thymus derived normal and neoplastic cells has been discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mouse spleen and thymus cells have been used in the preparation of horse anti-mouse anti-lymphocyte serum (HAMLS). The cells were used either separately or in a mixture and three types of immunization schedules were used, viz. two-pulse, extended and chronic. Antisera of marked immunosuppressive activity, as measured by the ability to prolong the life of skin homografts in mice, were obtained using all three schedules, the median survival time being, at best, 27.5 days for the chronic schedule, 26.7 days for the two-pulse schedule and 25.8 days. for the extended schedule. The two-pulse and the extended. schedules produced non-toxic antisera in a relatively short period of time but were uneconomic in terms of antigen and horses. The chronic schedule was preferred but after 10 weeks the development of unwanted antibodies precluded the further useful immunization of the horses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Antibody titres of children and adults living in a malaria endemic region were measured by. the indirect fluorescent antibody technique, using fluorescein-conjugated monospecific immunoglobulin antisera. The antigenicity of Plasmodium falciparum trophozoites was compared with that of schizonts obtained by in vitro culture of infected blood. Malarial antibody was detected with antisera to IgG, IgM and, at low levels, to IgA but not with antisera to IgD or IgE. Higher titres were obtained with schizonts as the source of antigen than with trophozoites, Adults in whom IgM antibodies were detected had a mean IgM concentration significantly higher than that for individuals who were IgM antibody negative, and there was a positive correlation between IgG fluorescent antibody titres and total IgG in the children examined.. Serial plasma samples from children with acute P. falciparum infections were examined to determine changes in immunoglobulin concentrations, antibody titres and the levels of serum antigens as a result of the infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Peritoneal macrophages from guinea-pigs sensitized to produce experimental allergic encephalomyelitis show reduced electrophoretic migration speed in the presence of the encephalitogenic factor. This reduction is abolished by prior treatment of the cells with antilymphocytic serum but the serum is not effective if exhibited after the antigen. The results offer support for the 'blindfolding' theory of antilymphocytic serum action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Antisera were prepared in rabbits by injection in Freund's adjuvant of extracts from a number of species of mite. Antigenic relationships were examined by gel- diffusion precipitation tests. At least one, and probably two antigens were found to be to the house dust mite. Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus and the related species Dermatophagoides farinae. These antigens were not detected in miles of the three other genera examined. The presence of common antigens to Dermatophagoides species would explain the high sensitivity to Dermatophagoides farinae reported among individuals sensitive to house dust. During the examination of four antisera to house dust made in rabbits, one was found to contain a precipitin to Dermatophagoides spp. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]