Epitope Linkage in the Immune Response and Its Implications for Lymphoid Architecture and Immunological Memory

Abstract

It is a pleasure to preface this paper with an acknowledgment of how important to me has been this series of meetings that Walter Brendel has organized, and how grateful I am for having participated in them. This is not just for the unique mixture of the intellectual life with joy in the mountains, nor for the friendships that these have generated, grateful though one must be for both. It is rather for the very special role that the series has played in integrating biomedical science in Europe. All of us know and respect science in the United States, and we have had good friends from the United States at these meetings. However, we need to feel proud of our scientific achievements on this side of the Atlantic, and this is just what these meetings have helped with so much. In particular I recall on one occasion hearing Vincent Eijsvogel describe here the very first evidence of recombination between class I and class II genes of the HLA complex (he was, I think, feeling his way towards this kind of nomenclature, although he used something more primitive at the time). Another memorable occasion was when Rolf Zinkernagel provided here the first rational explanation of the function of restriction, something that had previously become conspicuous for its absence!