Natural and recombinant anti-IgE autoantibodies.

Abstract

Since the first description of anti-IgE autoantibodies by Williams et al. in 19721, these antibodies have remained a much disputed subject. Most immunologists considered such natural autoantibodies as low affinity antibodies of no importance. Despite the fact that Manning et al. described only 4 years later that repeated injections of a rabbit anti-Ig antiserum to neonatal mice suppressed not only IgM but also IgG, IgA and IgE synthesis2, it was still not generally accepted that anti-IgE autoantibodies may have the same profound effect as heterologous anti-IgE antisera. Subsequent animal experiments, showing that anti-IgE antibodies are strongly immunoregulatory and lead to the suppression of IgE synthesis in vivo have not been associated with the possibility to use such antibodies for therapy3,4, or to postulate that such antibodies may represent a normal physiological control. Only recently, both possibilities have become feasible. Here we demonstrate that anti-IgE antibodies, isolated from the human genome, as recombinant antibodies, may possess the necessary fine specificity for future therapeutic application.