title: In Praise of Descriptive Science: A Breath of Fresh AIRE.
abstract: Meyer et al. find that subjects lacking the AIRE gene, critical for self-tolerance in T lymphocytes, show a broad range of autoantibody specificities, which can have extremely high affinities. The data also suggest that some of these autoantibodies can, surprisingly, prevent some types of autoimmunity, particularly type I diabetes.
authors.affiliation: Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. Electronic address: mmdavis@stanford.edu.
authors.forename: Mark M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Davis
mesh_terms: D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000276:immunology; D015551:Autoimmunity / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007108:Immune Tolerance; D017634:Self Tolerance / Q000235:genetics*; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D013950:Thymus Gland; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D001323:Autoantibodies; D014157:Transcription Factors