An identical mechanism governs self-nonself discrimination and effector class regulation

Tregeutix Inc., Orlando, Florida, United States
DOI
10.7287/peerj.preprints.3081v1
Subject Areas
Immunology
Keywords
FoxP3, Regulatory T cell, Cross-reactivity, Microbiota
Copyright
© 2017 Usharauli et al.
Licence
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ Preprints) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited.
Cite this article
Usharauli D, Kamala T. 2017. An identical mechanism governs self-nonself discrimination and effector class regulation. PeerJ Preprints 5:e3081v1

Abstract

Prevailing immunological dogma dictates self-nonself discrimination, meaning to respond or not, and effector class regulation, meaning choosing the most effective response, are two separate decisions the immune system makes when faced with a new antigen. Representing a cardinal departure from the past, our model instead predicts both self-nonself discrimination and effector class regulation are in fact one and the same process controlled by Foxp3+ regulatory T cells (Tregs) whose antigen-specific repertoire is entirely maintained by commensal microbiota-derived cross-reactive antigens.

Author Comment

This manuscript has not been previously submitted for peer-review.