Detection of human in vitro hapten specific antibody responses

A microculture and radioimmunoassay is described which is capable of generating and detecting very small levels of human anti-DNP antibody. The antibody produced is hapten specific and the response is T-cell dependent. The microculture system described avoids the need for high serum supplements, mitogens, in vivo immunisation or large cell numbers. As this system is simple, sensitive and reproducible it has considerable potential in the study of human immune response regulation and especially the role of lymphokines in human antibody responses.