Probing the idiotype/anti-idiotype antibody interaction with a set of synthetic peptide homologues

Abstract

Anti-idiotypic (anti-Id) antibodies were raised against two murine monoclonal antibodies (mAb 1 1 and mAb 2 1) which recognise two distinct and well-characterised epitopes on a 24-residue synthetic peptide representing part of the haemagglutinin (HA) of influenza virus. A monoclonal anti-Id antibody, specific for mAb 2 1, could bind to mAb 2 1 when the paratope of the latter was occupied with peptide, indicating that this anti-Id antibody is directed to a framework idiotope. In contrast, an anti-Id mAb derived from mAb 1 1-immunised mice was inhibited in its binding to Id by the parent peptide and also by the heptapeptide NVPEKQT which constitutes the epitope recognised by mAb 1 1. The small..