The vertebrate immune system defends the organism against invading pathogens while at the same time being self-tolerant to the body's own constituentsthuspreservingitsintegrity. Multiplemechanismsactinconcert to ensure self-tolerance. During intrathymic development, the nascent T cell repertoire is purged from autoreactive T cells via negative selection, a process also known as recessive tolerance. Ridding of self-reactivity, however, isnotcomplete, asattestedbythepresenceofself-reactiveTcells intheperipheralTcellrepertoire. Hence, additionaltolerancemechanisms, collectively referred to as...

The vertebrate immune system defends the organism against invading pathogens while at the same time being self-tolerant to the body s own constituentsthuspreservingitsintegrity. Multiplemechanismsactinconcert to ensure self-tolerance. During intrathymic development, the nascent T cell repertoire is purged from autoreactive T cells via negative selection, a process also known as recessive tolerance. Ridding of self-reactivity, however, isnotcomplete, asattestedbythepresenceofself-reactiveTcells intheperipheralTcellrepertoire. Hence, additionaltolerancemechanisms, collectively referred to as...