Autoantibodies Against Ig Immunoglobulin Framework Epitopes

The concept of antibodies against antibodies is now more than 40 years old. In 1955 Slater et al. (1) reported that a rabbit antiserum against a human myeloma protein continued to react with the immunizing myeloma protein after extensive absorption on normal human immunoglobulins (Igs). This experiment showed for the first time that it is possible to induce antibodies specific for unique epitopes (idiotopes) on another antibody. It was not clear, however, that such antiantibodies were present or could be induced in the same species and individual which served as the source of the immunogenic Ig. In 1957, Milgrom and Dubiski (2) concluded from experiments in rabbits that the immunoglobulins of an individuals own body may become antigenic. Ten years later, the concept of antiantibodies blossomed, as many laboratories began work on idio-types and anti-idiotypes, including auto-anti-idiotypic immune responses, which provided the experimental support for Niels Jerne’s network theory (see ref. 3).