Anti-idiotype regulation of the formation of IgE antibody to timothy grass pollen. II. In vitro induction of suppressor T cells in mini-Marbrook cultures.

A method is described for using mini-Marbrook chambers for culturing spleen cells together with anti-idiotype antibody (anti-Id) to induce the appearance of suppressor T cells (Ts). Spleen cells that have been cultured with affinity prepared anti-Id (IgG) but not those cultured with normal IgG, suppress a secondary IgE response to timothy grass pollen antigen B (AgB) when injected intravenously into AGB-primed and boosted syngeneic recipient mice. Suppressor T cells are not induced if the spleen cells cultured with anti-Id are depleted of B cells of if the cells are cultured with the F(ab)2 fragment of anti-Id: both of these results are compatible with Fc+ cells playing a role in the induction of Ts cells by anti-Id. Analysis of soluble suppressor factors in an ELISA test suggests that both TS1 and TS2 cells may be induced by anti-Id.