ABSTRACT
N. K. Jerne proposed his idiotype network hypothesis to explain how the immune system generates and maintains enormous diversity of antigen-specific lymphocytes. The mode of the T-cell antigen recognition is similar to that of the central nervous system when recognizing an object. The most typical structure of the heart for visual sensory neurons is the V-shaped configuration. In the similar manner, T cells see only the restricted part of the antigen. A single antigen-specific suppressor signal leads to regulate the whole repertoire of effector lymphocytes against a specific antigen. By the cell hybridization technique, three sets of suppressor T cell (Ts) hybridomas that regulate immune responses have been established by fusion of BW5147 thymoma and keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH)-primed C57BL/6 (H-2b) splenic T cells. By using the Va281 probe, Northern and Southern blot analyses were carried out on RNAs and DNAs from the aforementioned three types of Ts hybridomas including 8 individual clones.
