Influence of Stress on DDT-Induced Humoral Immune Responsiveness in Mice

Abstract In lymphoma patients, treatment with chimeric CD20 monoclonal antibodies (rituximab) results in a depletion of normal and malignant B cells, persisting for 6 to 9 months. This B-cell depletion leads neither to a decrease in immunoglobulin levels nor an increase in the number of infectious complications. However, the effect of rituximab treatment on the immune responsiveness is unknown. In 11 patients with relapsed, low-grade lymphoma, we investigated the effect of rituximab treatment on the humoral immune response to 2 primary antigens and 2 recall antigens. After rituximab treatment, the humoral immune response to the recall antigens was significantly decreased when compared with the response before treatment. Already before rituximab treatment, none of these patients was able to mount a response to the primary antigens. These findings are relevant regarding the feasibility of rituximab in maintenance treatment and may also offer a rationale for the treatment of antibody-mediated autoimmune diseases with rituximab.

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Prenatal alcohol exposure selectively suppresses cell-mediated but not humoral immune responsiveness

International Journal of Immunopharmacology ◽

10.1016/0192-0561(94)00099-a ◽

1995 ◽

Vol 17 (3) ◽

pp. 247-254 ◽

Cited By ~ 17

Author(s):

Zehava Gottesfeld ◽

Stephen E. Ullrich

Keyword(s):

Prenatal Alcohol Exposure ◽

Alcohol Exposure ◽

Immune Responsiveness ◽

Humoral Immune ◽

Prenatal Alcohol ◽

Humoral Immune Responsiveness

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Antibody-specific immunoregulation and the immunodeficiency of aging.

Journal of Experimental Medicine ◽

10.1084/jem.154.2.547 ◽

1981 ◽

Vol 154 (2) ◽

pp. 547-551 ◽

Cited By ~ 35

Author(s):

N R Klinman

Keyword(s):

B Cells ◽

Heavy Chain ◽

Antibody Repertoire ◽

Causative Role ◽

Immune Responsiveness ◽

Spleen Cells ◽

Humoral Immune ◽

Humoral Immune Responsiveness ◽

Young Mice

Experiments were carried out to assess the role of naturally acquired antibody-specific immunoregulation in the immunodeficiency of aged individuals. It was found that greater than 50% of the primary dinitrophenyl-specific BALB/c B cells did not respond in carrier-primed 2-yr-old BALB/c adoptive hosts as compared with similarly primed younger recipients. Similar suppression was observed in carrier-primed younger BALB/c mice that had received 4 x 10(7) spleen cells from 2-yr-old BALB/c mice, as opposed to those that had received 4 x 10(7) spleen cells from younger mice. This diminution in responsiveness was noted only for syngeneic BALB/c B cells because B cells of strains differing from BALB/c in the heavy chain allotype-idiotype locus were not suppressed. These findings indicate that old, but not young, mice had developed the capacity to suppress primary B cells bearing receptors expressing much of the syngeneic antibody repertoire. This suppression may play an important causative role in the relatively poor humoral immune responsiveness of aged individuals.

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