The Frequency and Surface Markers of Antigen-Laden Cells in Thoracic Duct Lymph

Abstract

The important role of nonlymphoid cells in presenting antigen during an immune response was demonstrated by adoptive transfer-type of experiments during the 1960’s (1) and subsequently confirmed in vitro as culture systems were developed in the 1970’s (2). More recently interest in antigen-presenting cells was renewed when it became apparent that T cell stimulation depended in part on recognition of the same products of the immune response genes (Ia antigens) which were expressed on the surface of the macrophage-like cells that presented antigen.