Homobodies: do they exist?

J Lindenmann

PubMed · 313749

Homobodies: do they exist?

Abstract

Within an immunological network consisting of interacting paratopes and idiotopes, three families of molecules can be postulated which bear a peculiarly close connection to any given epitope; the antibody, which carries paratopes which fit the epitope; the anti-idiotype, which carries paratopes fitting the idiotopes of the antibody; and the "homobody", which carries idiotopes to which the paratopes of the antibody fit. The homobody, called by Jerne the "internal image set", is a molecule which resembles the epitope, not like a mould resembles its cast, but like one cast resembles another cast made in the same mould. A distinction between homobody and anti-idiotype poses certain problems which are discussed in the light of a hypothetical experiment using avidin as the antigen.

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Antibodies, Anti-Idiotypic Avidin Binding Sites, Antibody Immunoglobulin Idiotypes Models, Biological Protein Conformation Journal Article

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J Lindenmann. Homobodies: do they exist?. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/313749/

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