The in vivo antibody response to hen egg white lysozyme in H-2b-compatible responder and non-responder mice: is it regulated by its N-terminal peptide at the level of antigen-presenting cells?

We studied the in vivo antibody responses of three H-2b strains, BALB/b, C57BL/6 and BALB/B x C57BL/6 F1 to various lysozymes, REL and HEL, after priming with HEL, REL or the HEL N-terminal peptide. It was confirmed that C57BL/6 is a non-responder strain to HEL and that BALB/b is responder strain. The C57BL/6 non-responder trait was associated with HEL or peptide induction of suppressor cells, as shown by adoptive transfer experiments. We further demonstrated that the suppressor/non-responder trait is dominant in BALB/b x C57BL/6 F1 hybrids and that appropriately pulsed macrophages of BALB/b mice can bypass such suppression in these F1 mice. Possible mechanisms are discussed.