title: New ideas about self-tolerance and auto-immunity.
abstract: Recent advances in our understanding of B cell ontogeny strengthen the theory that self-tolerance is generated principally by clonal deletion. B cells pass through a stage: the "baby B cell", during which they are particularly susceptible to receptor cross-linking. Further evidence of clonal deletion comes from studies on the maintenance of the liver differentiation alloantigen F. In spite of this accumulating evidence room can still be found for the concept of immunological silence: it is a prediction of the dual recognition theory of T cell receptors that differentiation macromolecules which occur only on the surface of Ia negative cells cannot be seen by T helper cells.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001323:Autoantibodies; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D002999:Clone Cells / Q000276:immunology; D003602:Cytotoxicity, Immunologic; D007108:Immune Tolerance; D007519:Isoantigens; D008099:Liver / Q000276:immunology; D046911:Macromolecular Substances; D008264:Macrophages / Q000276:immunology; D051379:Mice; D012867:Skin / Q000276:immunology; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D001323:Autoantibodies; D007519:Isoantigens; D046911:Macromolecular Substances