Modulation of the immune response to simian virus 40 large tumor antigen via idiotype—anti-idiotype interactions

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the modulation of the immune response to Simian virus 40 (SV40) large tumor antigen (T-ag) via idiotype–anti-idiotype interactions. T-ag is involved in the initiation of viral replication in permissive hosts and regulates the expression of the late structural gene products that associate to form virions. A direct role for SV40 T-ag in tumor immunity was demonstrated when BALB/c mice were immunized with SV40 T-ag, either purified from or expressed on inactivated syngeneic transformed cells and protected from a subsequent lethal tumor challenge with SV40 transformed cells. Studies have also examined the humoral immune responses to SV40 T-ag in murine systems. These studies have employed several inbred strains and have used SV40 T-ag expressing transformed cell lines and SV40 T-ag expressed as a recombinant protein. Some studies have implicated a role for Id and anti-Id interactions for regulating SV40 tumor immunity in murine systems. In a study to examine the role of Id networks in SV40 tumor immunity, a number of monoclonal anti-Id to several monoclonal anti-SV40 T-ag preparations were generated and characterized.