Antibody Formation Against Salmonella Flagella by an Immune Ribonucleic Acid Fraction

Abstract

Abstract An immune ribonucleic acid (RNA) preparation was extracted with phenol from the spleens of mice immunized with Salmonella flagella. A high titer of serum antibody was produced after injection of only a small amount of Salmonella flagella into mice that had previously been injected with immune RNA. This reaction was found to be immunologically specific and indicated a secondary antibody response. In contrast, secondary responses were not induced by injection of an immune RNA preparation into mice primed with either an immune RNA preparation or Salmonella flagella. These results suggest that immune RNA preparations did not contain antigens or fragments thereof, or at least the antigens that are needed to stimulate a secondary response. They indicated, moreover, that the immune RNA preparation can induce memory cells capable of responding to a secondary antigenic stimulus. The required interval between first and second antigenic stimulation and the necessary amounts of immune RNA or flagella antigen were investigated.