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Revised immune network concepts

1989; Academic Press; Volume: 52; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/0090-1229(89)90197-9

1090-2341

Heinz Köhler, Thomas Kieber‐Emmons, Subhashini Srinivasan, Srini V. Kaveri, W J Morrow, Sybille Müller, Chang‐Yuil Kang, Syamal Raychaudhuri,

Cancer Immunotherapy and Biomarkers

The idiotype network concept needs to be revised in order to be in agreement with current data on protein/protein interactions, with the phenomenon of T and B cell recognition of idiotopes, and with the failure of certain anti-idiotypes to stimulate a given immune response. It is proposed that the distinction among Ab2α,β, and γ is abandoned, as well as the concept of an internal image idiotope which mimics the three-dimensional shape of nominal antigen. In place of these definitions, the concept of “network antigen” is introduced. Network antigens are potentially the entire repertoire of anti-idiotypes. However, their biological effectiveness is controlled and established by two factors: (i) the affinity to the idiotype Ig receptor; and (ii) the preexisting regulatory network segment that controls the outcome of immune stimulation or suppression. Screening for effective idiotype therapeutic agents has to be done with panels of anti-idiotype and idiotype antibodies in order to establish correlations between idiotope expression and disease progression. Recognizing the importance of network segments will be the first step in the direction toward a rational design of idiotype-based therapies.