Co-evolution of a primordial peptide-presentation system and cellular immunity.
How did early vertebrates survive when their lymphocytes began to use antigen receptors with random specificities, despite their potential for extensive self-reactivity? Here, I propose that the quality-control mechanisms that tame self-reactivity in the adaptive immune system were derived, at least in part, from an ancient mechanism that guided sexual selection on the basis of evaluating genetic relatedness.
Boehm
Thomas
T
Department of Developmental Immunology, Max-Planck Institute of Immunobiology, Stübeweg 51, D-79108 Freiburg, Germany. boehm@immunbio.mpg.de
D000818:Animals; D017951:Antigen Presentation / Q000276:immunology*; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D006801:Humans; D007111:Immunity, Cellular; D018448:Models, Immunological; D010455:Peptides / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism*
D010455:Peptides