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Fact and Speculation on the Function of Immune Response Genes in Antigen Presentation
Author(s) -
WERDELIN O.
Publication year - 1981
Publication title -
scandinavian journal of immunology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.934
H-Index - 88
eISSN - 1365-3083
pISSN - 0300-9475
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-3083.1981.tb00604.x
Subject(s) - antigen , immune system , lysine , gene , antigen presentation , biology , function (biology) , major histocompatibility complex , immunology , dinitrophenyl , genetics , t cell , antibody , amino acid
Immune responsiveness of guinea pigs to dinitrophenyl‐poly‐ l ‐lysine and to the lysine rich random co‐polymer of l ‐glutamic acid and l ‐lysine are both controlled by a single gene, the ‘poly‐ l ‐lysine gene’. This paper reviews recent experiments which demonstrate that these two antigens specifically compete with one another for being presented to T cells by the same antigen‐presenting cells. This finding is interpreted to mean that antigens to which responsiveness is controlled by the same single gene compete for the Ir gene product of antigen‐presenting cells. The review discusses if the products of the immune response genes—presumably the Ia antigens—may constitute a third specific antigen recognition system. It further speculates if this idea may help to provide insight into the phenomenon of histocompatibility‐restriction and into the nature of the mixed leucocyte reaction.