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Albuminoid molecules: a novel, variability-generating cell-surface receptor system?
1Department of Pathology, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC 20007.
The mechanisms by which lymphoid cells produce infinitely variable molecules of the immunoglobulin protein superfamily have been recently elucidated. These molecules serve, in part, as the mediators of cell:cell recognition and interaction among lymphoid cells. However, the generality of those molecular mechanisms to occur in non-lymphoid cell types has not yet been established. In this paper, we propose that the serum albumin superfamily of proteins has the necessary characteristics to serve analogous functions in epithelioid cells, and we critique recent evidence which leads to this hypothesis.
The mechanisms by which lymphoid cells produce infinitely variable molecules of the immunoglobulin protein superfamily have been recently elucidated. These molecules serve, in part, as the mediators of cell:cell recognition and interaction among lymphoid cells. However, the generality of those molecular mechanisms to occur in non-lymphoid cell types has not yet been established. In this paper, we propose that the serum albumin superfamily of proteins has the necessary characteristics to serve analogous functions in epithelioid cells, and we critique recent evidence which leads to this hypothesis.