Evolution of Adaptive Immunity: ‘Double-duty’ Dendritic Cells in Cold-blooded Vertebrates

Immunology Interest Group Martin Flajnik earned his Ph.D. at the University of Rochester (NY) under Nicholas Cohen (of comparative- and psychoneuro-immunology fame) and then did his postdoc at the Basel Institute for Immunology under the noted amphibian immunologist Louis Du Pasquier. Flajnik’s first faculty position was at the University of Miami (1988-’98) and he has toiled at The University of Maryland Baltimore ever since. His research has always centered on the evolution of adaptive immunity in the vertebrates and have included studies of: thymic education; MHC biochemistry and genetics; emergence and function of immunoglobulin (Ig) heavy and light chain isotypes; hypermutation of Ig and TCR genes; gamma/delta TCR structure and function; emergence of costimulatory molecules; the advent of lymphoid tissues and their function in selection; mucosal immunity; and single-variable domain antibodies. The adaptive immune system arose 500 million years ago in ectothermic vertebrates, which include the extant jawless fish (lamprey and hagfish), cartilaginous fish, bony fish, and amphibians (and most reptiles). The definition of canonical adaptive immunity classically has been the RAG-dependent rearranging antigen receptors immunoglobulins (Ig) and T cell receptors (TCR), and the major histocompatibility complex MHC. These molecules/mechanisms are all present in gnathostomes. However, with the discovery of an adaptive immune system in jawless fish based on an entirely differe...
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