Contemporary Topics in Molecular Immunology
Contemporary Topics in Molecular Immunology

Author: F. P. Inman

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2013-11-22

Total Pages: 258

ISBN-13: 1461589304

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There are many unanswered questions regarding the molecular nature of antibodies, components of complement, and other substances which participate in the immune response. The list of substances which need to be analyzed chemically is increasing. Plasma cell products, of course, have long been of great interest because the most prevalent ones are immunoglobulins. Other cell types, however, are the source of the broad spectrum of additional substances which classically fall into the sanctum of the molecular immunologist. It is these substances, and especially those more recently discovered, which are responsible for the broadening investigative interests of immunologists. In this volume we have provided you with descriptions of research being done with immunoglobulins and with complement. Additionally, we have in cluded two reports that deal with molecules which are among the more recent acquisitions of the molecular immunologist. The components of complement are known to react in a cascading manner which results in the lysis of cellular antigens. The first step in the classical pathway requires the activation of CI by the antibody-antigen aggregates. This volume of Contemporary Topics in Molecular Immunology begins with the report of Reid and Porter which describes their investigation of the mechanism of activation of C I. Their descriptions of C I q and of the reaction of C I with immunoglobulins are especially intriguing. It is clearly apparent from their report that activation of the components of complement is a complex phenome non.

Contemporary Topics in Molecular Immunology
Contemporary Topics in Molecular Immunology

Author: F. P. Inman

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2013-03-14

Total Pages: 238

ISBN-13: 1468439170

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Included in this volume is a broad range of topics. Immunology is such a diverse field that many of the subspecialties overlap, and one finds it convenient and necessary to integrate information from several of them. We try to focus on the molecular aspects of immunology as much as is reasonable, but some con tributions consist of ablend of molecular and cellular immunology and even immunopathology. This is as it should be, since information at the molecular level often provides an explanation of phenomena observed at other levels. Myelin basic protein holds the interest of immunologists because it is impli cated in the induction of the autoimmune disease called experimental allergie encephalomyelitis (EAE). Although much biochemical and immunological information about this protein has been uncovered, it is not understood how such an inaccessible self-antigen can serve as the focal point in the central ner vous system for myelin basic protein-specific EAE-inducing T cells. Day dis cusses the problem by first reviewing the sequences of the proteins from several species and the antigenicity of the proteins and peptides derived from them. The reader is then led into a thorough discussion of the immunological relation ships that do and do not influence development of the encephalitis. From this discussion, the author promulgates the bystander model as the best overall mechanism to explain why different fragments of the highly conserved protein are needed by various species to give rise to the same type of localized central nervous system disease.

Contemporary Topics in Molecular Immunology
Contemporary Topics in Molecular Immunology

Author: Gordon Ada

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2012-03-19

Total Pages: 260

ISBN-13: 9781468428407

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A series of volumes devoted to molecular immunology will contain, for the most part, articles which attempt to explain immunological phenomena in terms of the behavior and properties of particular molecules. Many of the articles in this volume do this. At the same time, there are many instances-and this is particularly so in the case of immunology-where phenomena must first be described and interpreted in terms of the properties and behavior of cells. Most of us would hope that in due course a fuller understanding will be forthcoming. This volume starts off with such a contribution. Perhaps the most fascinat ing problem in immunology is how diversity is generated. There are two broad proposals: (1) that complete information exists ab initio (the germ-line theory), and (2) that there is initially a limited amount of information, and diversity is generated by somatic mutation. The issue is unresolved, but Cunningham has taken many of the data which have previously been used to support the germ-line theory and shows that the interpretations are not always clear-cut and can frequently be used to support another possibility-that new specificities may arise after stimulation of appropriate cells by antigens. And he has produced experimental evidence to support this notion. On the other hand, there can be little doubt that to a considerable degree the specificity of the immune response is determined by the selection by antigen of cells with receptors of appropriate specificity. This is essentially a surface phenomenon.