title: The search for the missing 'missing-self' receptor on natural killer cells.
abstract: In this article, I outline the studies that led to the discovery of Ly49A as the first 'missing-self ' receptor on natural killer cells. It is a more detailed and formal version of my acceptance speech at the Novartis Award ceremony at the International Congress of Immunology in Stockholm. Yet, it is impossible to mention my gratitude to all of my previous mentors and colleagues or to credit all the scientists and immunologists who preceded us by making contributions, large and small, to knowledge upon which our findings were based. It is therefore humbling to accept the 2001 Novartis Award for Basic Immunology along with Professors Klas Kärre and Lorenzo Moretta.
authors.affiliation: Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Barnes-Jewish Hospital, Rheumatology Division, Department of Medicine, Center for Arthritis and Related Diseases, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA.
authors.forename: W M
authors.initials: WM
authors.lastname: Yokoyama
mesh_terms: D000486:Allergy and Immunology; D000818:Animals; D000950:Antigens, Ly; D001324:Autoantigens / Q000276:immunology*; D001363:Awards and Prizes; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007694:Killer Cells, Natural / Q000276:immunology*; D037181:Lectins, C-Type; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000276:immunology*; D011971:Receptors, Immunologic / Q000378:metabolism*; D055630:Receptors, NK Cell Lectin-Like; D013548:Sweden
chemical_list: D000950:Antigens, Ly; D001324:Autoantigens; D002352:Carrier Proteins; D037181:Lectins, C-Type; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D011971:Receptors, Immunologic; D055630:Receptors, NK Cell Lectin-Like