EFFECT OF CATIONIZATION ON ANTIHAPTEN ANTIBODY-RESPONSES IN SHEEP ANDMICE

The effect on anti-hapten immune responses of altering the isoelectric point of hapten-carrier conjugates by cationization was examined in s heep and mice. No adjuvants were employed in these studies. In sheep t he cationization of ovalbumin-dinitrophenyl (OVA-DNP) resulted in an e nhanced primary anti-dinitrophenyl (DNP) response. The secondary anti- DNP responses were not consistently greater for animals primed with ca tionized (CAT) OVA-DNP than in animals primed with OVA-DNP. Similar re sults were obtained with mice immunized with bovine serum albumin (BSA )-DNP or CAT BSA-DNP. Mice and sheep primed with OVA-DNP failed to mou nt an anamnestic response following secondary immunization with CAT OV A-DNP. Failure of a cationized hapten-carrier to stimulate a secondary anti-DNP response following priming with uncationized hapten-carrier was also observed in mice using BSA-DNP as the model antigen.