From Immunity and Vaccines to Mammalian Regeneration

Our current understanding of major histocompatibility complex (MHC)-mediated antigen presentation in self and nonself immune recognition was derived from immunological studies of autoimmunity and virus-host interactions, respectively. The trimolecular complex of the MHC molecule, antigen, and T-cell receptor accounts for the phenomena of immunodominance and MHC degeneracy in both types of responses and constrains vaccine development. Out of such considerations, we developed a simple peptide vaccine construct that obviates immunodominance, resulting in a broadly protective T-cell response in the absence of antibody. In the course of autoimmunity studies, we identified the MRL mouse strain as a mammalian model of amphibian-like regeneration. A significant level of DNA damage in the cells from this mouse pointed to the role of the cell cycle checkpoint gene CDKN1a, or p21(cip1/waf1). The MRL mouse has highly reduced levels of this molecule, and a genetic knockout of this single gene in otherwise nonregenerating strains led to an MRL-type regenerative response, indicating that the ability to regenerate has not been lost during evolution.