STUDIES ON ARTIFICIAL ANTIGENS III. THE GENETIC CONTROL OF Tile IMMUNE RESPONSE TO HAPTEN- POLY-L-LYSINE CONJUGATES IN GUINEA

Previous studies on the genetic transmission of the capacity for an immune response have shown that there is a statistically significant relation between the abilities of parents and of offspring to respond to a given antigen (1-3). Mendelian genetic patterns were not observed, however, possibly because of the structural complexity of the immunizing antigens employed. Poly-L-aamino acids and hapten conjugates of synthetic polypeptides are antigens of comparative structural simplicity. Such materials are accordingly suitable for studies of the genetic transmission of the capacity for immune responses. In previous reports, it has been shown that only 10 to 40 per cent of randombred Harfley guinea pigs have the capacity to respond immunologically to 2,4-diuitrophenyl (DNP) conjugates of poly-L-lysine (PLL), whereas 100 per cent of these guinea pigs can respond to DNP conjugates of homologous or foreign proteins (4, 5). Only those guinea pigs capable of responding immunologically to DNP-PLL could respond also to PLL conjugates of 3 other immunogenlc haptens (5). These findings suggest that the capacity of an individual guinea pig to become hypersensitive to hapten-PLL conjugates, depends on its ability to properly metabolize the PLL carrier (5). In the present work, breeding experiments were carried out in order to study the genetic transmission in guinea pigs of the capacity to become immunized by hapten-PLL conjugates. The results obtained indicate that this trait is transmitted genetically as a unigenic Mendelian dominant.