Nonantigenicity and immunologic tolerance: the role of the carrier in the induction of tolerance to the hapten.

Treatment of adult mice with dinitrophenyl (DNP) bound to isogeneic serum resulted in a specific inability to respond to DNP after challenge with DNP-keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH) in complete Freund's adjuvant. The unresponsiveness to the hapten had all the characteristics of immunologic tolerance: it had a definite induction time; it was transient but could be maintained by additional injections of the tolerogen; it was antigen specific and dose dependent. In addition, the induction of tolerance to DNP is dependent on the nature of the carrier.