Intolerance can destroy the individual just as it can destroy a society. TOLERANCE depicts the structure of a human MHC protein: “major histocompatibility complex” holding a small fragment of another protein (in the groove formed by the two helices). T cells of the immune system recognize if these fragments are from a virus or bacterium and mount an immune response against the infecting microorganism. If the pieces are “self” (as in this fragment of human brain protein) T cells are usually unresponsive, or “tolerant” to self. An inappropriate response (“intolerance” to this self protein) may be associated with multiple sclerosis, an autoimmune disease. The ability of immune cells to distinguish “self” from “non-self” is a property whose basis was described by the “Clonal Selection Theory.” MacFarlane Burnet & Peter Medawar received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1960 for the discovery of “Acquired Immune Tolerance.”
Intolerance can destroy the individual just as it can destroy a society. TOLERANCE depicts the structure of a human MHC protein: “major histocompatibility complex” holding a small fragment of another protein (in the groove formed by the two helices). T cells of the immune system recognize if these fragments are from a virus or bacterium and mount an immune response against the infecting microorganism. If the pieces are “self” (as in this fragment of human brain protein) T cells are usually unresponsive, or “tolerant” to self. An inappropriate response (“intolerance” to this self protein) may be associated with multiple sclerosis, an autoimmune disease. The ability of immune cells to distinguish “self” from “non-self” is a property whose basis was described by the “Clonal Selection Theory.” MacFarlane Burnet & Peter Medawar received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1960 for the discovery of “Acquired Immune Tolerance.”