ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the application of statistics to biochemistry and, in particular, the application of statistical matching techniques to the problem of T cell antigenic peptides. Immune recognition of foreign proteins as antigens begins with T cell recognition of fragments of the protein on the surface of another cell of the immune system. T cell antigenicity, in contrast to B cell antigenicity, appears to be related to secondary structure, the local geometry of a peptide segment. Several biochemical properties might influence T cell antigenicity. Experimental immunologists had determined that, within a given protein, only certain peptides stimulated large numbers of T cells to divide. In the problem of T cell antigens, the theoretical parent population models the experiment sufficiently well to make the null hypothesis interesting to an analysis of causality. Statistical methodology is available to examine the causality of various biochemical properties with T cell antigenicity or other biological properties.
