On the Genetic Dissection of a Specific Humoral Immune Response to (1,3) Dextran

Abstract

The humoral response to a given antigen is governed by the interaction of three cell types, an inhibitory cell (TI), a cooperating cell (TC), and a B cell, the induction of which we measure (Bretscher 1974; Cohn 1975; Cohn and Blomberg 1975). The specificity of the immune response (Ir) is determined by the receptors on these three cell types. An analysis of the genetics of specific immune responsiveness is, in large measure, an analysis of the genetics of expression of these cell receptors. This implies the specification of each of the structural genes coding for a receptor, as well as of each of the regulatory elements controlling the expression of a given structural gene. The only receptor for which there is precise structural information is the immunoglobulin (Ig) receptor used by antigen-sensitive precursors (B cells) of humoral antibody-forming cells. It is therefore easily predictable that the genetics of specific humoral...