Characterization of the Antibody Production in Rabbits Induced by Streptococcal Group A and C Carbohydrate Antigens I. Evidence for Lack of Correlation Between Magnitude of Immune Response, Degree of Antibody Restriction, and Immunoglobulin Allotype.

One hundred and five rabbits were immunized with a streptococcal group A and C vaccine. About 50% of the rabbits died during the immunization, mainly of unknown causes. The amounts of precipitating and agglutinating antibodies, antibody restriction, and γ-globulin allotypes within the a locus were determined and correlated with one another. The mean precipitin and agglutinin titers of the rabbit antisera with some kind of restricted response in almost all case were higher than the titers of the antisera from the rabbits with a heterogeneous response, but the difference was significant in only a few cases. No significant correlation was found between allotypic markers and the other variables mentioned. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]