2. Specific immune response genes of the guinea pig. I. Dominant genetic control of immune responsiveness to copolymers of L-glutamic acid and L-alanine and L-glutamic acid and L-tyrosine
H G Bluestein, I Green, B Benacerraf J Exp Med. 1971 Aug 1;134(2):458-70. doi: 10.1084/jem.134.2.458.
The immunogenicity of three random copolymers of amino acids with L-glutamic acid and L-alanine (GA), L-glutamic acid and L-tyrosine (GT), or L-glutamic acid, L-alanine, and L-tyrosine (GAT), administered in complete Freund's adjuvant, was studied in several inbred and random-bred guinea pig strains. The animals were tested for delayed sensitivity and their sera were assayed for the presence of antibody directed against the immunizing polymer. All of the guinea pigs developing delayed hypersensitivity also had significant antibody levels in their sera. Inbred strain 2 guinea pigs responded to immunization with GA, but failed to form detectable responses to GT. Inbred strain 13 animals, on the other hand, responded to GT, but not to GA. The (2 x 13)F(1) hybrids responded to both GA and GT with both delayed hypersensitivity and circulating antibody. Thus, the ability of these inbred guinea pigs to respond immunologically to GA or GT is controlled by distinct autosomal dominant genes. A variable percentage of random-bred guinea pigs, depending on their source as well as their strain, responded to immunization with GA and with GT. All guinea pigs, both inbred and random bred, responded to immunization with GAT. The ability to respond immunologically to GAT, therefore, does not seem to be under simple genetic control. However, the levels of anti-GAT antibody found in the sera of animals lacking the ability to respond to GA were much lower than those detected in GA responder animals.
3. Immunochemical study of antigenic specificity in delayed hypersensitivity. II. Delayed hypersensitivity to polytyrosine-azobenzenearsonate and its suppression by haptens
S LESKOWITZ J Exp Med. 1963 Jun 1;117(6):909-23. doi: 10.1084/jem.117.6.909.
Delayed hypersensitivity in guinea pigs was produced by immunization. with a conjugate prepared by coupling diazotized arsanilic acid to polytyrosine. The resulting sensitivity could be demonstrated by skin test with conjugates prepared from a wide variety of tyrosine-containing proteins. Definite but smaller degrees of sensitivity could be induced with conjugates of proteins containing little or no tyrosine. The apparent absence of carrier-specificity is considered to be due to the narrowed range of immunologic response produced by immunization with polytyrosine-azobenzenearsonate. Injections of the hapten N-acetyltyrosine-azobenzenearsonate was found to suppress completely the delayed reaction attributable to the tyrosine-azobenzenearsonate group. The same hapten was only slightly effective in suppressing reactions in guinea pigs immunized with guinea pig serum albumin-azobenzenearsonate, suggesting that a broader range of specificities is involved with such antigens. Confirmation of such increased range of specificity attributable to antigenic determinants contributed by the carrier protein was obtained by desensitization studies with N-acetyltyrosine-azobenzenearsonate and guinea pig serum albumin-azobenzoate. While separately these materials produced only a slight decrease in skin reactivity to guinea pig serum albumin-azobenzenearsonate, the combination was found to give almost complete suppression.
