Much was accomplished in the last decade in understanding how the adaptive immune system evolved to combat pathogens. Essential features of antigen presentation and T lymphocyte recognition were deciphered, setting the stage for further studies that elucidated basic elements of lymphocyte differentiation (including positive and negative selection during lymphocyte ontogeny) and the major intera...

Some genetically determined traits, such as ear lobes, finger hair and hairy car were studied in 89 schizophrenic patients and compared with normals. The proportion of schizophrenic males having earlobes hanging free was much less than the control group. This difference is highly significant statistically (p < .0001). Similar was our observation in schizophrenic females (p < .05). Furthermore n...

Because diagnosis of strongyloidiasis by stool examination is unreliable and because of the potential for serious disease in Strongyloides infections, there is need for improved diagnostic aids to facilitate recognition and treatment of this parasitic infection. Serologic testing, when available, requires antigen preparation from infected primates or dogs that can be difficult to maintain. Seve...

This study aims to understand the relationship between capabilities of Escherichia coli strains to form biofilm and serotype groups expressed on cell surface. Sixteen strains of E. coli were originally isolated from different food processing lines in different Moroccan cities. Strains serotyped based on their O (somatic), H (flagellar), and K (capsular) surface antigen profiles using different ...

Long-lived plasma cells are critical to humoral immunity as a lifelong source of protective antibodies. Antigen-activated B cells-with T-cell help-undergo affinity maturation within germinal centres and persist as long-lived IgG plasma cells in the bone marrow. Here we show that antigen-specific, induced IgM plasma cells also persist for a lifetime. Unlike long-lived IgG plasma cells, which dev...

Reich, C. V. (Pennsylvania State University, University Park), C. E. Heist, and H. W. Dunne. Agglutinin-adsorption analysis of Vibrio fetus. J. Bacteriol. 82:210-214. 1961.-All pathogenic strains of Vibrio fetus are apparently members of a single serotype. Within this broad grouping, it was possible to define the relationship of certain selected strains by a system of complete reciprocal adsorp...

Follicular lymphoma is a monoclonal B-cell malignancy with each patient's tumor expressing a unique cell surface immunoglobulin (Ig), or B-cell receptor (BCR), that can potentially recognize antigens and/or transduce signals into the tumor cell. Here we evaluated the reactivity of tumor derived Igs for human tissue antigens. Self-reactivity was observed in 26% of tumor Igs (25 of 98). For one f...

A cultured mouse myeloma cell line, S107, that secretes an IgA phosphocholine-binding immunoglobulin has been cloned in soft agar and overlaid with phosphocholine-hemocyanin. Spontaneous mutants that secrete immunoglobulin with a decreased ability to precipitate antigen were detected with this plate assay and occur at a very high frequency. From one such mutant, phenotypic revertants arise spon...

Instead of the immunoglobulin-type antigen receptors of jawed vertebrates, jawless fish have variable lymphocyte receptors (VLRs), which consist of leucine-rich repeat (LRR) modules. Somatic diversification of the VLR gene is shown here to occur through a multistep assembly of LRR modules randomly selected from a large bank of flanking cassettes. The predicted concave surface of the VLR is line...

Affinity maturation of antibodies during immune responses is achieved by multiple rounds of somatic hypermutation and subsequent preferential selection of those B cells that express B cell receptors with improved binding characteristics for the antigen. The mechanism underlying B cell selection has not yet been defined. By employing an agent-based model, we show that for physiologically reasona...