title: Variable Lymphocyte Receptors: A Current Overview.
abstract: Jawless vertebrates represented by lampreys and hagfish mount antigen-specific immune responses using variable lymphocyte receptors. These receptors generate diversity comparable to that of T-cell and B-cell receptors by assembling multiple leucine-rich repeat modules with highly variable sequences. Although it is true that jawed and jawless vertebrates have structurally unrelated antigen receptors, their adaptive immune systems have much in common. Most notable is the conservation of lymphocyte lineages. It appears that specialized lymphocyte lineages emerged in a common vertebrate ancestor and that jawed and jawless vertebrates co-opted different antigen receptors within the context of such lymphocyte lineages.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine, North 15 West 7, Sapporo, 060-8638, Japan. mkasaha@med.hokudai.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Masanori
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kasahara
mesh_terms: D056704:Adaptive Immunity / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D019070:Cell Lineage / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D014644:Genetic Variation / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D006196:Hagfishes / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D007798:Lampreys / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D011946:Receptors, Antigen / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D014714:Vertebrates / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D011946:Receptors, Antigen
keywords: Antigen receptor; Cytidine deaminase; Hagfish; Jawless vertebrate; Lamprey; Leucine-rich repeat; Lymphocyte lineage; Thymoid; Variable lymphocyte receptor