Remembering NL Immunologist Baruj Benacerraf on 100th Birth Anniversary

摘要

In vertebrate body system, major histocompatibility complex MHC-I and -II molecules play important roles in adaptive immune response to pathogens by presenting antigenic peptides to CD8~+ and CD4~+ T-lymphocytes respectively. In early 1980s, immune responsive (Ir) genes in class-II region of human and mouse MHCs could be identified and their sequence determined. Nobel Laureate (NL) immunologist Baruj Benaceraff discovered Ir genes, elucidated mechanism by which they determine immune responsiveness and central role it played, along with its product MHC molecules, in regulating T-lymphocyte responses - an important phenomenon in cellular and humoral specific/adaptive immune system. Prof. Benaceraff was co-recipient of Nobel Prize in Physiology/Medicine in 1980. Ir genes first identified by him in guineapig in 1968 were subsequently found in humans and other mammals; these were determined to be part of MHC of mammals and mapped in it.