Suppression of the Primary Antibody Plaque Response of Mice Following Infection with Friend Disease Virus. ∗

Summary

Infection of mice with Friend Disease Virus prior to or simultaneous with immunization with sheep red blood cells resulted in a marked suppression of appearance of antibody forming cells, as determined by a localized hemolytic plaque technique in agar gel. Infection with virus had a marked suppressive effect on the number of 19S hemolysin forming cells in mouse spleen tissue at the peak of the expected immune response and during a period of two weeks or longer thereafter. Appearance of low efficiency 7S hemolysin forming cells late in the immune response, following a single injection of sheep red cells. Was also depressed in infected mice. Animals infected 3 days to a week or longer prior to immunization had the lowest number of detectable 19S or 7S antibody-forming cells. The number of plaque forming cells per million leukocytes tested was most suppressed in those mice which had obvious splenomegaly due to virus infection.