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J L Pelkonen

Publications and source records attributed to J L Pelkonen.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

Anti-oxazolone hybridomas and the structure of the oxazolone idiotype.

Antibodies raised in several mouse and rat strains against the hapten 2-phenyloxazolone (phOx, "oxazolone") regularly contain a fraction recognized by antiidiotypic reagents. We have studied this response in BALB/c and DBA/2 mice by generating over fifty anti-phOx antibody-secreting hybridoma clones. The hybridization was performed either 7 or 14 days after a primary immunization with phOx-protein conjugate. Most of the hybrids secreted IgG1. Whereas over 80% (17/21) of IgG-producing hybrids from day-7 fusions secreted oxazolone-idiotype positive immunoglobulin, all hybridomas originating from day-14 fusions were idiotype negative. The mRNA for heavy (H) and light (L) chains of three idiotype-positive and one idiotype-negative IgG1 hybridomas were sequenced by a modification of Sanger's dideoxynucleotide method of DNA sequencing, using crude mRNA as template, synthetic oligonucleotides as primers, and reverse transcriptase to incorporate both dideoxynucleotides and labeled deoxynucleotides. The sequence of the mRNA coding for the whole variable region of each chain was established using primers complementary to the constant region near the V-C boundary and another two that coded for a framework segment in either VH or VL. This method not only provided more information than protein sequencing but was also faster and simpler. The mRNA preparation did not need fractionation beyond the poly A-containing fraction. The sequences of the H and L chain mRNA of the three idiotype-positive anti-oxazolone antibodies were extremely similar or identical, and from them a tentative oxazolone-idiotype basic sequence was derived. Only three nucleotide differences were detected; these occurred in the D segment of one H chain mRNA, in the V-J boundary of one of the light chain mRNA, and in the first hypervariable region of another. The idiotype-negative antibody had a totally different H chain mRNA and a light chain mRNA that differed by 21 bases, almost all affecting the amino acid sequence.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

A hapten-specific Ir gene.

When mice of different strains were immunized with a conjugate of 2-phenyloxazolone (phOx) and chicken serum albumin (CSA), the antibody response was controlled by an Ir gene (Ir-phOx). H-2 alleles d and f were associated with a high response, k and a with an intermediate response, and allele b with a low response. The effect of the Ir gene was clear-cut in anti-carrier antibodies of the primary and the secondary response when the concentrations of anti-carrier antibodies varied between 1 and 350 microgram/ml. Anti-hapten antibodies reached a ceiling of ca. 1000 microgram/ml that was unaffected by the Ir gene. Before the ceiling was reached, antihapten antibodies were also subject to the control of the Ir-phOx gene. When the same carrier CSA was coupled with other haptens, BOC-ABA-Tyr or NO2phOx, antibody responses were not under the control of the Ir-phOx gene. This gene is probably responsible for the differences that have been observed earlier in delayed hypersensitivity and antibody responses to skin painting by phOx.

Animals↗

Inheritance of antibody specificity V. Anti-2-phenyloxazolone in the mouse.

Antibodies to hapten 2-phenyloxazolone (phOx) of all BALB/c and DBA/2 mice have the same idiotype and the same major (public) isoelectric focusing pattern whose main spectrotype is called Ox-1. Neither of these characteristics could be readily demonstrated in anti-phOx antibodies of C57BL, C3H or LP mice; these antibodies were heterogeneous, and lacked public spectrotypes. Also, a fine specificty difference could be demonstrated between anti-phOx antibodies of BALB/c and C5MBL mice; the latter have a higher relative affinity than the former for a structural analogue of phOx (2-o-iodophenyloxazolone). The three BALB/c characteristics were inherited in congenic and recombinant inbred strains as an allotype-linked block, defining a new VH marker, VHphOx. Murine anti-phOx antibodies were found to exhibit three types of conservatism: (a) Every individual mouse of strains BALB/c, DBA/2 or BAB-14 had an almost indistinguishable IEF pattern. (b) These patterns (and the cross-reactive idiotype) remained virtually unchanged during an immunization course of 70 days. (c) An identical idiotype (and in some cases IEF pattern) was present in mouse strains of five different allogroups.

Animals↗