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Research Article Free access | 10.1172/JCI105752

The nature of the antigen-antibody complexes initiating the specific wheal-and-flare reaction in sensitized man

Bernard B. Levine and Anthony P. Redmond

New York University School of Medicine, Department of Medicine, New York

Find articles by Levine, B. in: PubMed | Google Scholar

New York University School of Medicine, Department of Medicine, New York

Find articles by Redmond, A. in: PubMed | Google Scholar

Published March 1, 1968 - More info

Published in Volume 47, Issue 3 on March 1, 1968
J Clin Invest. 1968;47(3):556–567. https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI105752.
© 1968 The American Society for Clinical Investigation
Published March 1, 1968 - Version history
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Abstract

To study the nature of the antigen-antibody complexes which initiate the specific wheal-and-flare (W & F) reaction in sensitized man, a homologous series of bivalent, oligovalent, and multivalent benzylpenicilloyl (BPO) haptens were quantitatively compared for their effectiveness in eliciting W & F in BPO-sensitized human subjects.

A series of seven divalent haptens were capable of eliciting W & F, but these generally were not maximally effective elicitors. Of the divalent haptens, those with separation chains of 8 or 13 A were the most effective. Of the oligovalent haptens, maximal effectiveness was attained with BPO6-lysine7, and not with BPO2-lysine3 or BPO4-lysine4, i.e., haptens which are 6- 3- and 4-valent, respectively, from a chemical point of view. However, evidence was obtained from quantitative precipitation experiments which indicated that BPO6-lysine7 functions as a trivalent hapten immunologically, i.e., capable of binding three antibody molecules per mole hapten. Large molecularsized haptens with immunological valences of 7 or 12, but in which the haptenic groups were widely separated, were comparatively ineffective elicitors of W & F. In individual subjects, threshold W & F reactions were obtained with equimolar concentrations of the differently sized divalent, oligovalent, and multivalent haptens.

The results demonstrate that for maximally effective elicitation of W & F by haptens, trivalency with optimal distances of separation of haptenic groups is necessary and sufficient. These results indicate the requirement for the formation of a high energy complex of two or three membrane-fixed skin-sensitizing antibody molecules closely bridged together by the elicitor hapten as the initiator of the W & F reaction.

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