Chronic treatment with rabbit anti-mouse mu-chain antibody alters the characteristic immunoglobulin heavy-chain restriction of murine suppressor T-cell factors.

Prolonged treatment of mice, starting at birth, with rabbit anti-mouse mu-chain antibodies resulted in the elimination of immunoglobulin-bearing B cells in these animals. The ability of these animals to elicit antigen-specific delayed-type hypersensitivity or cytotoxic T-cell responses to azobenzenearsonate-coupled spleen cells was not impaired. The effect of anti-mu treatment on the restriction by immunoglobulin heavy-chain genes (Igh) of suppressor T cells was investigated. We found that first-order suppressor T-cell factor ( TsF1 ) obtained from anti-mu treated animals expresses an Igh restriction pattern distinct from that observed with TsF1 from normal untreated mice. Furthermore, TsF1 prepared from anti-mu treated animals did not express the major crossreactive idiotypic determinants normally present in TsF1 . The significance of these findings in relation to the role of immunoglobulin on the T-cell repertoire is discussed.