Evidence for the Existence of Two Functionally Distinct Types of Cells Which Regulate the Antibody Response to Type III Pneumococcal Polysaccharide

Abstract

The administration of various types of syngeneic lymphoid cells to mice immunized with type III pneumococcal polysaccharide (SSS-III) and treated with anti-lymphocyte serum (ALS) revealed that at least two functionally distinct types of presumably thymic-derived cells (a suppressor cell and an amplifier cell) act in an opposing manner to regulate the antibody response to SSS-III. The ability of ALS to increase the magnitude of the antibody response to SSS-III is apparently the result of the inactivation of a cell type that normally suppresses the antibody response produced following immunization with SSS-III.