Suppressive effect of antibody on processing of T cell epitopes

Immunoglobulins drive efficient antigen capture by antigen presenting cells for processing and presentation on class II MHC-molecules. High affinity antibody/antigen interactions are stable at endosomal/lysosomal pH thus altering the substrate for antigen processing. We show that this can result in strong suppression of presentation of some T cell epitopes. This effect was observed when the antibody specificity was a B cell surface Ig, or formed part of an immune complex. In the latter case the presence of the suppressing antibody boosts presentation of other T cell epitopes through enhanced uptake into Fc receptor bearing cells. The influence of bound antibodies on the outcome of antigen processing may influence with T cell epitopes dominate T cell responses and may change the focus of the response with time.