Enhanced antibody affinity in sublethally irradiated mice and bone marrow chimeras.

Sublethally irradiated mice primed with dinitrophenyl (Dnp)-keyhole limpet hemocyanin immediately after irradiation or 30 days later and subsequently boosted with a second injection of antigen displayed a secondary response to Dnp characterized by antibody affinity greater than that in unirradiated controls. Also, in radiation chimeras primed with Dnp-keyhole limpet hemocyanin 120 days after syngeneic or allogeneic bone marrow transplantation the antibodies against Dnp produced after boosting were of higher affinity than the antibodies raised in normal mice. These findings are tentatively attributed to lack of suppressor thymus-derived lymphocytes (T cells) in sublethally irradiated mice and bone marrow chimeras, in which the enhanced ability to produce antibodies of high affinity may compensate for quantitative defects of the immune system.