The role of antigen form and function in the primary and secondary intestinal immune responses to cholera toxin and toxoid in rats.

This report describes studies of the mucosal antitoxic response in rats after enteric administration of several forms of cholera toxin or toxoid, proteins which differ primarily in their ability to bind to cell membranes and activate cellular adenyl cyclase. These two characteristics appeared to markedly enhance the local primary response to these antigens. A single dose of toxoid lacking these features was ineffective in local priming even though it was absorbed and induced a systemic immune response. Single dose mucosal priming occurred only with preparations which bind to cell membranes and was enhanced by those which also activate cellular adenyl cyclase. In contrast, single-dose mucosal boosting was best accomplished by materials with these properties but was also seen with a toxoid lacking both of these functions. The property of membrane binding appears to be most advantageous in mucosal priming, perhaps by increasing effective trapping of absorbed antigen in unprimed mucosal lymphoid tissue, whereas the ability to activate adenyl cyclase appears to enhance primary and secondary type responses about equally. Combinations of crude toxoid and toxin were also more effective in mucosal priming than purified materials, a finding which is unexplained. A single dose of this combination induced mucosal priming which was fully developed in 2 wk, undiminished after 4 too, and only modestly diminished after 8 mo, thus demonstrating relatively prolonged memory in the IgA mucosal immune system. Effective two-dose local immunizing regimens were developed, and it was shown that there was no correlation between the mucosal and systemic secondary antitoxin responses provoked by these regimens.