title: Establishment and functional implications of B-cell connectivity.
abstract: We have discussed some aspects of the structure of the normal immune system, particularly the B-cell compartment. We have argued: that a basic property of the natural antibody repertoire is constituted by high degrees of connectivity within the immune system as well as between the system and other components of the organism; that the complementarities constituting this connectivity are based on self-self interactions, high degrees of degeneracy or somatically selected interactions and that these properties are conserved through evolution, to ensure self-reference; that by evolutionary selection, antibody V-genes encoding such structural properties are ensured to be expressed early in ontogeny. The set of highly connected cells will be kept through ontogeny and form the basis for a compartment of naturally-activated lymphocytes making up 10-15% of the total lymphocyte population. As suggested before, this pool of connected cells may be responsible for maintenance of normal network dynamics and prevention of autoaggression.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Applied Cell and Molecular Biology, University of Umeå, Sweden.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Holmberg
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Andersson
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Carlsson
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Forsgren
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D000906:Antibodies / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D001327:Autoimmune Diseases / Q000473:pathology; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D007107:Immune System / Q000473:pathology; D007130:Immunoglobulin Idiotypes; D008954:Models, Biological; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data
chemical_list: D000906:Antibodies; D007130:Immunoglobulin Idiotypes