Specificity of Tolerance to Antigens the Immune Response to Which Is Controlled by the PLL Gene

Abstract

Abstract The ability of guinea pigs to respond immunologically to a group of structurally related, positively charged synthetic polypeptides is under the genetic control of a single dominant autosomal gene (1, 2). All inbred strain 2 guinea pigs and some of the outbred Hartley strain guinea pigs possess this gene, referred to as the poly-l-lysine (PLL) gene, and can respond to several synthetic polyamino acid antigens (poly-l-lysine, poly-l-arginine, a random copolymer of l-glutamic acid and l-lysine (GL), and protamine) and to the hapten conjugates of these materials. Despite the similarity of these antigens, the cellular immune responses elicited by each of these compounds are highly specific (3). All inbred strain 13 guinea pigs and some outbred Hartley's fail to make a strong antibody response and never develop cellular immunity when challenged with these polypeptides: they apparently lack the PLL gene (2).