Elicitation of delayed-type hypersensitivity to phosphorylcholine by monoclonal anti-idiotypic antibodies in an allogeneic environment

Delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) to phosphorylcholine (PC) could be elicited by mixtures of monoclonal anti-idiotypic antibodies. Using this system in DTH transfers, the question was asked of whether anti- idiotypic antibodies could elicit antigen induced DTH in H-2- incompatible mice. Transfer of PC-activated BALB/c lymph node cells into BALB.K mice and subsequent elicitation with anti-idiotypic antibodies resulted in a positive DTH response. In contrast, elicitation with the antigen PC showed the expected H-2 restriction.