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Anergy and Suppression in B‐Cell Responses
Author(s) -
ELLIOTT J. I.
Publication year - 1992
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.1365-3083.1992.tb03137.x
Subject(s) - priming (agriculture) , idiotype , immunology , hapten , suppressor , biology , immunization , b cell , antibody , genetics , monoclonal antibody , gene , botany , germination
Summary Two main ideas have been put forward to explain the unexpectedly low anti‐hapten antibody titres which can result from pre‐priming a mouse with carrier before hapten‐carrier immunization. The first involves the interaction of a network of idiotype‐specific suppressor T cells, the second instead arguing for the role of intrinsic B‐cell anergy. This paper proposes that the data available can equally be interpreted as reflecting the suboptimal interaction between T and B cells at differing stages of maturity, provided that memory B cells can be divided into two subsets. Further, it is suggested that these considerations must be taken into account in the analysis of B‐cell anergy in receptor transgenic mice.