Clonal Selection (Immune Response)
Burnet's clonal selection theory (1957-59) held that each lymphocyte makes one antibody type and an antigen selects which cell multiplies; Miller's 1961 thymus work led on to T and B cells.
Open in the interactive tree →Niels Jerne suggested in 1955 that the body holds a large pool of antibodies from which an antigen selects the match. In 1957 David Talmage and Frank Macfarlane Burnet proposed that each antibody-making cell produces one type and is selected to multiply, and in 1958 Gustav Nossal and Joshua Lederberg showed that one B cell makes only one antibody. In 1961 Jacques Miller found that animals without a thymus at birth could not reject foreign tissue or resist many infections, and with Graham Mitchell he showed that two kinds of lymphocytes, later called T and B cells, cooperate. Burnet shared the 1960 Nobel Prize with Peter Medawar for work on immunological tolerance.
Prerequisites
- Cell Theory1838Each lymphocyte divides into a clone of identical daughter cells.
- Antibodies and Serum Therapy1890Antibodies, shown to protect in 1890, are what the theory explains.
Unlocks
- Monoclonal Antibodies1975A hybridoma is a clone of one B cell making one antibody.
- Checkpoint Immunotherapy2014–2018Checkpoint antibodies release the brakes on T lymphocytes.
- CAR-T Cell Therapy2017CAR-T re-engineers a patient's T lymphocytes.