Antigen mimicry by anti-idiotypic antibodies: Study of interactions between complementary surfaces in macromolecules

Anti-idiotypic antibodies were obtained from New Zealand White rabbits inje cted with affinity-purified rabbit anti-TrpR antibodies. In gel mobility sh ift studies, such immunoglobulin preparations were shown to contain one or more species able to form specific complexes with DNA molecules bearing a t rp operator. In competitive ELISA assays, the binding of anti-idiotypic ant ibodies to operator-bearing DNA was reversed by TrpR. The demonstration tha t the immune repertoire contains information for operator-specific DNA-bind ing proteins may be relevant to the etiology of certain autoimmune diseases . (C) 1999 Academic Press.