Immunologic Reactions to Haptens on Autologous Carriers

Abstract

Abstract Antigen-induced lymphocyte proliferation in vitro was used to investigate changes in receptor affinity of cells from mice immunized with haptens coupled to autologous carriers. We attempted: 1) to show a differential sensitivity to antigen in vitro after priming with low or high doses of antigen in vivo; 2) to assess the in vitro response to different doses of antigen at various times after priming with a single dose of antigen; 3) to demonstrate high affinity cells by blocking the in vitro response with low doses of free hapten. Using all three procedures, we were unable to demonstrate either a selection of high affinity cells or a maturation of cells with high affinity receptors with time after immunization. The results suggest that in mice, hapten coupled to autologous carriers are weak immunogens and are unable to prime a majority of cells with high affinity receptors.