Med Microbiol Immunol (Berl)  1987;176(6):289-303 

Immunoresponses to Neisseria meningitidis epitopes: in vivo analysis of
immunocompetent cells involved in suppression of secondary response to
phosphorylcholine.

Faro J, Seoane R, Lareo I, Eiras A, Schiller M, Regueiro BJ.

Departamento de Microbiologia y Parasitologia, Facultad de Medicina, Santiago de
Compostela, Spain.

The immune response to phosphorylcholine (PC) antigens has been extensively
studied in recent years. Neisseria meningitidis serogroup B M986 (NMB) was
recently reported to induce a PC-specific plaque-forming cell (PFC)
immuno-response in mice, a characteristic useful for the study of
immunomodulating properties of N. meningitidis. With this technique, priming
mice with low doses of NMB has been shown greatly to impair their ability, one
month after priming, to mount an anti-PC response induced by NMB; this
suppression is permanent, does not involve switching from IgM to another
immunoglobulin class, transiently affects the T15 idiotype expression and is
carrier specific. We report, based on an analysis of spleen cells from
NMB-primed mice in an adoptive transfer model, that this suppression does not
appear to be mediated by B lymphocytes nor does it seem to be under the direct
control of T lymphocytes; rather, it involves radio-resistant cells.
Additionally, our results show that NMB modulates the idiotype composition of
the anti-phosphorylcholine response, probably by enhancing the expression of so
called hapten-augmentable PFC. These results demonstrate that NMB can interfere
effectively with the immune response in a variety of ways.