Whether it's idiotype or idiotope, all I know is that B cells create
unique linear amino acid sequences in their antibodies by the process of
V-D-J recombinations, that at least some of these unique peptides that
are generated in the course of antigen processing and presentation are
presented to T cells, and that there is no way that I can think of that T
cells can distinguish these unique peptides made and presented by B cells
from the IDENTICAL peptides that are characteristic of "foreign" antigens.
That B cells do in fact process and present their unique peptides is
empirically established (see literature by S. Weiss and B. Bogen).
Just because I cannot think of any way that the immune system can
distinguish between idiotypes and foreign antigens does not mean that
there is no such mechanism. Therefore I repeat, can anyone provide me
with an acceptable answer to this question?
My answer, by the way, is that T cells can in fact not distinguish, that
B cells always tolerize naive T cells, and that the consequence of this
is that the immune system cannot distinguish self from nonself because
any antigen, self or foreign, presented by a B cell will tolerize naive T
cells specific for that antigen.
Ephraim Fuchs
ejf at welchlink.welch.jhu.edu
