ANALYSIS OF UNEXPECTED INHIBITIONS OF T LYMPHOCYTE PROLIFERATION TO SOLUBLE ANTIGEN, ALLOANTIGEN AND MITOGEN BY UNFRAGMENTED ANTI‐I‐Ak OR ANTI‐I‐E/Ck MONOCLONAL ANTIBODIES

We investigated the capacity of anti-I-Ak and anti-I-E/Ck monoclonal antibodies (m.Ab.) to inhibit T lymphocyte proliferative responses to soluble antigen (Keyhole limpet hemocyanin), alloantigens (H-2 or non-H-2 related) and a mitogen (Concanavalin A). Surprisingly, specific inhibition was observed in all circumstances, and with both anti-I-Ak and anti-I-E/Ck m.Ab., whether the responses tested were I restricted in cell mixing experiments or not. The significance of the inhibition by anti-Ia m.Ab. of non-Ia-restricted responses is still not completely understood. These results, however, strongly suggest that in vitro inhibition by anti-Ia antibodies of T cell proliferative responses does not necessarily indicate I restriction of the presentation to T lymphocytes of the corresponding antigen.