Abstract
THERE is considerable evidence that antibody-forming cells arise by mitotic division after injection of antigen, and that they continue to divide and produce antibody while differentiating (refs. 1–3 and unpublished work of N. K. Jerne, A. Nordin, C. Henry, H. Funi and A. Koros). According to this view, the many antibody-forming cells present at the peak of an immune response are derived by extensive proliferation from a relatively small number of precursors. It has been suggested, however, that plaque-forming cells which release 19S haemolytic antibody may develop from precursors without division4–6. If this is true it follows that lymphoid tissue must contain a large number of cells capable of being directly “switched on” for synthesis of a specific antibody. Experiments designed to test this point are described here.
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References
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SZENBERG, A., CUNNINGHAM, A. DNA Synthesis in the Development of Antibody-forming Cells during the Early Stages of the Immune Response. Nature 217, 747–748 (1968). https://doi.org/10.1038/217747a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/217747a0
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