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Genetic regulation of antibody heterogeneity: Its possible significance in human allergy

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Conclusion

Finally, in a broader context, part of the fascination of this subject is its relevance to the questions of how responses in the different Ig classes and subclasses are orchestrated, and why such a diversity of Ig classes exists at all. These questions are of great theoretical interest in themselves, and are also highly relevant to those immunological diseases that are characterized by production of auto-or isoantibodies of very restricted subclass (e.g., Karpatkinet al. 1973, Morellet al. 1973) or clonality (e.g., Goldberg and Fudenberg 1971, Harboe 1971, Kunkelet al. 1973). They are also questions that the IgE system—since it is so sophisticated and well-Defined—highlights in a particularly telling way.

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  1. Department of Anatomy, University Medical School, NE1 7RU, Newcastle upon Tyne, Great Britain

    H. N. A. Willcox & David G. Marsh (Investigator for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute)

  2. Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine at Good Samaritan Hospital, 21239, Baltimore, Maryland

    H. N. A. Willcox & David G. Marsh (Investigator for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute)

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Willcox, H.N.A., Marsh, D.G. Genetic regulation of antibody heterogeneity: Its possible significance in human allergy. Immunogenetics 6, 209–225 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01563911

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