Antibodies to topoisomerase-I are present in approximately 26% of patients with scleroderma and are rarely found in patients with other diseases. In the current study, the expression of the antitopoisomerase-I (antitopo-I) idiotype from two scleroderma patients (E.M. and S.G.) and from a healthy individual (N.M.) were studied. Idiotype EM-SCL was restricted to the three classes of antitopo-I, w...

Anti-idiotype antisera were raised in syngeneic (BALB/c mice) and homologous (A/J mice) systems to study the cross-reactive idiotypes among monoclonal antibodies to PR8 and B/Lee virus HA and the expression of these idiotypes during primary and secondary antiviral responses of BALB/c mice. Extensive idiotypic cross-reactivity was demonstrated among monoclonal antibodies specific for distinct an...

Identification of antibody populations that share variable region determinants (idiotypes) among all individuals of an inbred strain has greatly facilitated the study of mechanisms that govern specific immune responses. In almost all cases, such idiotypes constitute a major portion of the antibody response, although the degree of clonal dominance may vary with the number of immunizations or dur...

Natural autoantibodies are primarily immunoglobulin M (IgM) antibodies that bind to a variety of self-antigens, including self-IgG. Accounting for a large proportion of the early B cell repertoire, such polyspecific autoantibodies are speculated to contribute to the homeostasis and/or competence of the primary humoral immune system. Recent studies indicate that the leukemia cells from most pati...

Using monoclonal antiidiotypic antibodies, we developed a sensitive binding assay that detects molecules with one or with two idiotopes of the ABPC48 idiotype. ABPC48 cross-reactive idiotypes were thus shown to be present in substantial amounts in sera of nonimmunized mice. Levan binding sites are found on these idiotypes. During the life time of the mice, the natural anti-levan titer increases...

High levels of rheumatoid factors (RF) are detectable in serum of the majority of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), but 5-10% of patients remain seronegative (SN). Despite clinical and genetic similarities between these two subsets of RA, it has been proposed that they may be regarded as distinct clinical entities. Methods: In the present study a panel of monoclonal antibodies (mAb) rec...

For the first time V-region amino acid sequence differences have been correlated with the expression of cross-reactive and individual idiotypes through an analysis of 12 dextran-binding proteins. This correlation has been possible because of the apparent sequence identity of the corresponding lambda chains. Expression of a cross-reactive idiotype was localized to two residues and/or a carbohydr...

Cross-reactive anti-DNA antibody idiotypes have been identified on tissue-bound immunoglobulins in a study of renal biopsies from 26 systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients. 12 (46%) biopsies were shown to have one or both the idiotypes tested for by anti-idiotypic reagents. The idiotypes were identified in the glomerular basement membrane, the mesangial cell cytoplasm, and in focal tuft pr...

At 23 wk of gestation, the fetal spleen contains follicles of lymphocytes that coexpress B cell differentiation antigens, surface Ig, and the 67-kD pan-T lymphocyte antigen, CD5 (Leu-1). Such cells are thought to represent the normal equivalent cells of B chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). This B cell leukemia is distinctive in that high proportions of patients have leukemic cells that express...