SUMMARY

Three BALB/c monoclonal antibodies capable of neutralizing herpes implex virus type 1 (HSV-1) were used to prepare rabbit anti-idiotypic antisera. Affinity-purified antibodies from four of these rabbits were used to immunize mice by repeated subcutaneous injection over a period of 6 to 7 weeks: the mice were then challenged with HSV-1 subcutaneously in the ear pinna. Measurement ofear swelling showed that prior administration of anti-idiotypic serum could generate dose-dependent delayed-type hypersensitivity responses. It is recognized that anti-idiotypic (anti) antibodies can be directed in some instances against part or all of the Combining sites of the antibodies concerned, and that such antibodies make a more or less accurate 'model ' of the epitope stimulating the original antibody (see Bona, 1981). When the immunogen is a virus (or other infectious agent), the anti-idiotype when used as an immunogen may therefore stimulate response similar to that against a component of the original virus. In this paper we study this phenomenon asillustrated by cell-mediated responses to herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) in mice. The anti-idiotypic antibodies were all raised in rabbits and directed against monoclonal antibodies r acting with glycoproteins of HSV-1