A purgative mastery (original) (raw)

Nature volume 412, pages 685–686 (2001)Cite this article

What is the molecular basis of the immunological self? The issue is rendered more complex by apparent exceptions to self-recognition. Healthy people can have antibodies in their serum that react with bodily components, and some autoreactive T cells are also present. Indeed, some have questioned the centrality of self–nonself discrimination and, as a passionate believer in its importance, I welcome the chance to revisit the subject in the molecular era.

Three key concepts underlie these apparent paradoxes. First, the receptors on the surface of lymphocytes have not been created to react with particular pathogenic microbes or, for that matter, with particular molecules on foreign kidney cells. Rather, the whole universe of receptors together constitutes a repertoire, one or more elements of which are capable of recognizing any foreign molecule. The immune system works on selectionist, not instructionist, lines. This means that the affinity of binding between antigen and lymphocyte receptor will vary over a wide range. Below a particular threshold value, an encounter between a lymphocyte and an antigen will not engender a signal that is sufficient to trigger that cell into activity.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pathology, University of Melbourne, Victoria, 3010, Australia
    G. J. V. Nossal

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  1. G. J. V. Nossal
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Nossal, G. A purgative mastery.Nature 412, 685–686 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/35089152

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