Arabinosylthymine: suppressor of hamster immunoglobulin M formation during primary immune response

The effect of 1-beta-D-arabinofuranosylthymine (araT) and thymidine (TdR) on the primary and secondary humoral immune responses to Brucella abortus and sheep erythrocytes was investigated. The data indicate that both agents suppress the primary humoral response without significantly altering the secondary response. In addition, the mercaptoethanol-sensitive immunoglobulin component of the total antibody titer was lowered to a much greater extent than was the mercaptoethanol-resistant immunoglobulin component by treatment with ara-T or TdR. Further, the response to B. abortus (a T-independent antigen) seemed to be suppressed more than the response to sheep erythrocytes, a T-dependent antigen. This suggests that subpopulations of lymphocytes may express different sensitivities to araT and TdR.