THE ANTIGENIC STRUCTURE OF PROTEINS: A REAPPRAISAL

Proteins are one of the most abundant and diverse classes of antigens to which the immune system can respond. These include trarisplantation antigens, anti­ gens of infectious and parasitic organisms, and allergens. An understanding of host defense mechanisms and of the ability to distinguish self from nonself requires a knowledge of the structural basis for protein antigenicity. The advent of hybridoma technology ( 1 ) to produce monoclonal antibodies, each of which