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Antibodies administered in vivo together with the antigen they are specific for can regulate the immune response to that antigen. This phenomenon is called antibody-mediated feedback regulation and has been known for over 100 years. Both passively administered and actively produced antibodies exert immunoregulatory functions. Feedback regulation can be either positive or negative, resulting in >1000-fold enhancement or >99% suppression of the specific antibody response. Usually, the response to the entire antigen is up- or downregulated, regardless of which epitope the regulating antibody recognizes. IgG of all isotypes can suppress responses to large particulate antigens like erythrocytes, a phenomenon used clinically in Rhesus prophylaxis. IgG suppression works in mice lacking the known Fc-gamma receptors (FcgammaR) and a likely mechanism of action is epitope masking. IgG1, IgG2a and IgG2b administered together with soluble protein antigens will enhance antibody and CD4+ T-cell responses via activating FcgammaR, probably via increased antigen presentation by dendritic cells. IgG3 as well as IgM also enhance antibody responses but their effects are dependent on their ability to activate complement. A possible mechanism is increased B-cell activation caused by immune complexes co-crosslinking the B-cell receptor with the complement-receptor 2/CD19 receptor complex, known to lower the threshold for B-cell activation. IgE-antibodies enhance antibody and CD4+ T-cell responses to small soluble proteins. This effect is entirely dependent on the low-affinity receptor for IgE, CD23, the mechanism probably being increased antigen presentation by CD23+ B cells.

Antibodies, administered together with their specific antigen, can feedback-regulate antibody responses to this antigen. IgG1, IgG2a and IgG2b enhance antibody responses to soluble protein antigens. This effect is primarily mediated by FcRs as enhancement is impaired in FcR gamma-/- mice, reported to lack Fc gammaRI and Fc gammaRIII because of deletion of the common FcR gamma chain. Also IgG3 can enhance antibody responses. However, this effect is unperturbed in FcR gamma-/- mice but severely impaired in complement-depleted animals and in animals lacking complement receptor 1 and 2. Although this argues against involvement of Fc gammaRs, FcR gamma-/- mice may express one-fifth of the normal levels of Fc gammaRI and, in addition, Fc gammaRI has been suggested to bind IgG3. We re-investigated the dependence of IgG3-mediated enhancement on Fc gammaRs using a mouse strain selectively lacking Fc gammaRI and found that IgG3-mediated enhancement is completely normal. Unlike IgE and IgG2a, which are both thought to enhance T-cell proliferation via FcR-mediated antigen presentation, IgG3 was a poor enhancer of T-cell proliferation both in vivo and in vitro. These findings argue against a significant involvement of Fc gammaRs in IgG3-mediated enhancement of antibody responses and support our previous conclusion that complement plays a major role.