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Mls AND THE HELPER T‐CELL REPERTOIRE: II. does the Mls gene product influence the formation of the T‐ cell repertoire? studies with Mls tolerance
Author(s) -
Hoffmann M. K.,
Chun M.,
Dennig D.,
Hämmerling U.
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
international journal of immunogenetics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.41
H-Index - 47
eISSN - 1744-313X
pISSN - 1744-3121
DOI - 10.1111/j.1744-313x.1988.tb00420.x
Subject(s) - repertoire , t cell , biology , microbiology and biotechnology , immunology , immune system , physics , acoustics
SUMMARY In the formation of a repertoire, T cells are selected through a window of autoreactivity which is defined by a low boundary representing the minimal autoreactivity required to enter the T‐cell compartment and a high boundary which determines the highest admissible autoreactivity. We propose that the Mls gene product down regulates autoreactivity and thus modifies the formation of the T‐cell repertoire. Given the polymorphism of Mls and the assumption that Mls b is more inhibitory than Mls d , it is conceivable that Mls b (responder) mice admit into their T‐cell compartment T cells with higher autoreactivity than Mls d mice. We suggest that it is this highly autoreactive fraction of Mls b T cells which responds in the overt Mls response. We show that Mls tolerance eliminates T cells responding in the overt Mls response but not T cells responding in the latent Mls response. This is consistent with the finding that T cells responding in the latent Mls response occur in Mls b as well as in Mls d mice.