Analysis of insulin-specific T cell clones. I. Strategy for production of clonotypic antibody.

A novel strategy for production of T cell clone-specific antiserum is described. Clones that are both antigen-specific and alloreactive can be injected in small numbers i.v. into a strain which expresses the appropriate alloantigens, inducing consistently high-titered antisera containing antibodies to the unique T cell receptor molecules on these cells. The antisera characterized in this report block activation of these cells by either antigen plus autologous class II products or alloantigen. Furthermore, in the absence of antigen, the antiserum strongly stimulates the specific clones to divide, and to synthesize and secrete various proteins. Consistent with the findings of other investigators, the antiserum immunoprecipitates a disulfide-linked dimer of 90,000 m.w. from the surfaces of cells with the appropriate specificity.