THEORIES OF ANTIBODY PRODUCTION 



it became clear that an enormous variety of cell receptors 

 would need to be provided, so many that Ehrlich's theory 

 was discarded. Landsteiner in 1936 concluded that anti- 

 bodies are produced by some modification of the process of 

 protein synthesis by which the proteins (antibodies) are 

 adapted as closely as possible to the immunizing antigen. 



2. Haurowitz-Pauling [direct template) theory 



With the development of a better understanding of protein 

 chemistry, Landsteiner's work became the basis for the first 

 of the current theories of antibody production, for which 

 Alexander, Mudd and Haurowitz are usually given joint 

 credit. Its most fully developed form is due to Pauling ( 1 940) 

 and it is probable that most immunologists still find it the 

 most convenient framework for thought on practical matters. 

 Following Talmage (1957), the theory can be called the 

 'direct template' theory. It holds that antibody molecules 

 have their specificity determined by being synthesized against 

 a template of the antigen molecules themselves. In Hauro- 

 witz's (1952) view the specificity is conferred not at the 

 synthesis of the polypeptide chain but at a later stage when the 

 folding of the chain is taking place. In this way a complemen- 

 tary configuration is developed at one or more, probably two, 

 sites on the coiled-up globulin, which 'fits' accurately with 

 the antigen or its particular determinant against which it 

 was moulded. 



It is doubtful whether anyone has attempted to cover all 

 the main fields of immunology in relation to this view. 

 Clearly accessory hypotheses not very closely dependent on 

 the primary one are needed to deal with normal antibodies, 

 immunological tolerance, homograft immunity, etc. Its 

 chief virtue has been the stimulus it has provided for the 

 experimental study of specificity of chemical structure, and 

 of the persistence of foreign organic material in various 

 tissues. The important implications of this theory in which 

 it differs from others are : 



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