Section 11 — Immunogenetics 



(ii) Papio cynocephalus, and yet undefined serum 

 polymorphism in (in) man. 



Individual heteroprecipitating Papio cynoce- 

 phalus anti-human sera recognized polymorphism 

 in serum gamma-globulins and other fractions 

 of (hih) man, and yet undefined serum poly- 

 morphism in (hh) Macacus rhesus. 



(2) Isogenic strain isoantibodies (i s i) in mice 

 recognized the antigen gamma-B A present in 

 BALB/c, C3H/He and "Champagne-Glaxo" but 

 not in C57B1, and the antigen gamma-C A 

 present in C57B1 but not in BALB/c. 



Genetic transmission of the above systems and 

 their postulated role in maternal-foetal incompa- 

 tibilities in primates including man, and in 

 mice, are being investigated. 



11.31. Immunological Studies of Genetical Markers 

 in Tissue Cell Populations in Cultures. J. 



Moor-Jankowski (Bethesda, U.S.A.). 



Investigation of the genetics of tissue cells in 

 cultures depends on demonstration of hereditary 

 characters. Immunological tools for this pur- 

 pose are: (I) Mixed agglutination (Coombs), 

 based on specific agglutination, by the same 

 antibody, of tissue cells and indicator cells 

 sharing the same antigen; and (II) Double dif- 

 fusion in agar gel (Ouchterlony), consisting of the 

 diffusion of antibody and of antigen (here, cell 

 homogenate) in a concentration gradient to- 

 wards the reaction area, where they meet in 

 proportions optimal for precipitation. 



In present tests, antisera for (I) were made 

 against erythrocytes, and antisera for (II) 

 against tissue cells. 



The investigated characters of tissue cells were 

 species specificity and blood group specificity. 

 Diachronic studies were performed on conse- 

 cutive cell generations. 



The cells tested were derived from (1) primary 

 animal and human explants, (2) human diploid 

 cell strains, and (3) long established aneuploid 

 human and animal cell lines. 



Species specificity was ascertained, and no 

 diachronic changes were observed by (I) and 

 (II) in (1), (2), and (3); selective advantage of 

 some species of (3) was demonstrated. Blood 

 group antigens A, B, or H, and M and Tja were 

 found by (I) in human (1) and (2); no diachronic 

 changes occurred in diploid cells observed from 

 a few, up to 20 passages. Findings on blood 

 group antigens in (3) were not consistent. Partial 

 or complete loss of blood group phenotype in 

 aneuploid cells is evident. 



The well studied human diploid strain WI-38 

 is being used to investigate antigenic markers 



and their changes after viral-induced transforma- 

 tion to aneuploidy. 



11.32. Experimental Studies on the Prevention of 

 Rh Haemolytic Disease. C. A. Clarke and 

 R. Finn (Liverpool, Great Britain). 



The results are described of experiments in- 

 volving the injection of Rh positive blood into 

 96 Rh negative men and designed to find out 

 whether or not the production of immune anti-D 

 can be prevented. 



Giving 10-20 ml of anti-D sera containing 

 high titres of complete antibody half an hour af- 

 ter the Rh positive blood it was found that only 

 about 50 per cent of the injected cells had been 

 cleared within 48 hr and immune anti-D pro- 

 duction was enhanced as compared with controls 

 who received only the Rh positive blood. 



Using 35-50 ml of plasma containing piedomi- 

 nantly incomplete antibodies we found that only 

 3 of 21 "treated" men developed immune 

 antibodies after three or four stimuli as compared 

 to 11 of 21 control men, the difference being 

 statistically significant (P = 0.02). 



Examination of these results and those of 

 other experiments which are described suggests 

 that about 95 per cent of the injected cells have 

 to be cleared from the circulation within 24 hr 

 if immune antibody production is to be prevent- 

 ed. The anti-D antibody most likely to be effec- 

 tive in this should have no saline activity and as 

 high an incomplete titre as possible. 



Preliminary work with anti-D gamma-glo- 

 bulin given intramuscularly has shown that in 

 appropriate dose it is even more effective in 

 rapidly clearing Rh positive cells than the most 

 powerful plasma used. 



The next step proposed is to give Rh positive 

 foetal cells to Rh negative infertile women, half 

 of whom will act as controls and half will be 

 given gamma-globulin. It is hoped that the 

 results of this experiment will be available. 



11.33. Anti-RH Inhibition by RNA Derivatives and 

 Amino Acids. Emanuel Hackel (East Lans- 

 ing, U.S.A.). 



Earlier studies from this laboratory have 

 shown that several ribonucleic acid derivatives 

 and some amino acids are capable of inhibiting 

 specifically the antibodies of the Rh series. This 

 inhibition is presumed to be the result of partial 

 neutralization of the antibody by the inhibitor 



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