title: Whither T-suppressors: if they didn't exist would we have to invent them?
abstract: Arriving at an understanding of the role of suppressor T-cells (regulatory T-cells, CD4(+)CD25+) depends on whether their functional repertoire is somatically selected to be anti-Self or anti-Nonself. Immunologists are ambivalent; often publications espousing opposite views share an author. Here the arguments are detailed that the suppressor repertoire is not somatically selected to be anti-Self, but rather it is anti-Nonself. Therefore, suppression cannot regulate the Self-Nonself discrimination; its function is to regulate the magnitude and class of the anti-Nonself effector response.
authors.affiliation: Gulbenkian Science Institute, Oeiras, Portugal. cohn@salk.edu
authors.forename: Melvin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cohn
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D015375:Receptors, Interleukin-2 / Q000032:analysis; D050378:T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory / Q000502:physiology*; D018417:Th1 Cells / Q000502:physiology; D018418:Th2 Cells / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D015375:Receptors, Interleukin-2