Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Borretzen M
PROVIDER: S-EPMC45551 | biostudies-other | 1994 Dec
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 19941201 26
Rheumatoid factor (RF) autoantibodies can be produced in healthy individuals after infections or immunizations and thus escape normal tolerization mechanisms. It has not been clear whether such autoantibodies can undergo somatic hypermutation and affinity maturation similar to antibodies to exogenous antigens. We have investigated how these autoantibodies are regulated in normal individuals by analyzing the sequences of monoclonal IgM RFs obtained as hybridomas from donors after immunization. Th ...[more]