Cellular Basis of the Genetic Control of Immune Responses

Abstract

This chapter explains the genetic control of the immune response to branched synthetic polypeptide antigens in inbred mice. Genetic control of specific immune responses has been reported for a wide variety of antigens. Many of these genetic controls have been shown to be because of the effects of single, autosomal, dominant genes. Most of these genetic controls are linked to the major (or, in some cases, a minor) histocompatibility locus of the species in question. The number of such histocompatibility-linked, specific, immune response (Ir) genes is growing rapidly, and an incomplete list is given in the chapter. The chapter focuses on the genetic control of the ImR of inbred mice to branched, multichain, synthetic, polypeptide antigens. It elaborates the characteristics of this type of genetic control which have been worked out to date, the implications of these results, and the experiments that are currently under way to test the most likely hypotheses for the mechanism of gene action.