Autoimmune diseases are common and often associated with considerable morbidity or - in diseases such as IDDM, myasthenia gravis and multiple sclerosis - mortality. In this volume, experts of international stature in basic science and clinical medicine with a common interest in understanding the normal and aberrant immune response present their experiences. It was their intention to fur- ther the understanding of potential clinical application of scientific observations and to help to comprehend the huge amount of results in autoimmunity research.

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Session I Structure and Function of Immunoglobulins and Their Genes.- Organisation and Expression of Human VH Genes.- Immunoglobulin Kappa Variable Gene Segment Usage during Ontogeny.- Session II Structure and Function of the T Cell Receptor and Its Genes.- Molecular Analysis of T Lymphocyte Recognition.- T Cell Development in T Cell Receptor Transgenic Mice.- Target Sequences and Accessibility for Chromosomal Translocations Involving T Cell Receptor Genes.- Session III Structure and Function of the MHC and Its Genes.- Structure of Human Major Histocompatibility Complex Class II Genes.- Dissection of the Roles of Specific Class II Antigens and Accessory Molecules in Antigen Presentation.- The Fine Specificity of Recognition of Influenza Virus Proteins by Human Cytotoxic T Cells.- Chairman's Summing up Evolutionary Analysis of HLA Class II Polymorphisms.- Session IV Auto-Antigen Characterisation.- Molecular Genetics of Two Major Thyroid Auto-Antigens: Thyroglobulin and Thyroperoxidase.- Analysis of Auto-Antigenic Determinants of Thyroid Peroxidase Antigen, Generated Using Polymerase Chain Reaction.- Glycolipid Antigens in Type I Diabetes Mellitus and Its Long Term Complications.- On the Main Immunogenic Region of the Acetylcholine Receptor; Structure and Role in Myasthenia Gravis.- Acetylcholine Receptor-Expressing Fibroblasts.- Session V Antigen Processing and Presentation.- The Interaction between MHC Class II Molecules and Immunogenic Peptides.- Molecular Mimicry between Virus Proteins and Autoantigens in Autoimmunity.- Session VI Interaction of Auto-Antigen, MHC and T Cell Receptor.- The Advantages of Limiting the T Cell Repertoire for Antigen and MHC.- Functional Dissociation of T Cell Sites: Immunogenic, Antigenic and Pathogenic Sites.- Autoreactive Cloned T CellLines in Murine Insulin-Dependent Diabetes Mellitus.- Chairman's Summing up.- Session VII Immunogenetics and Autoimmunity.- HLA Class II Sequence Polymorphism and Autoimmunity.- HLA-DQ and Diabetes Mellitus: A Genetic and Structural Paradigm for Models of Disease Susceptibility.- A Single, Recessive, Non-MHC Diabetogenic Gene Determines the Development of Insulitis in NOD Mice.- Autoimmunity More Than the MHC?.- Chairman's Summing up.- Session VIII Clinical and Experimental Autoimmunity.- The Idiotypic Network in Experimental Autoimmune Thyroiditis (EAT): Towards a New Conception of Autoimmune Reactivity.- Factors Affecting Diabetes in Rodent Models of Insulin-Dependent Diabetes Mellitus.- Cells and Immune Processes Contributing to Pancreatic Islet Inflammation.- Synopsis of Paper Entitled: Ir Gene Expression, Antigen Processing and Auto-Antigen Characterisation in Autoimmune Diseases of the Nervous System.- Mechanisms of Resistance to Autoimmune Disease Induced by T Cell Vaccination.- Session IX Clinical and Experimental Autoimmunity II.- T Cell Reactivity to Acetylcholine Receptor in Myasthenia Gravis.- Type I Diabetes as a Mendelian and Regulated Immune Process.- The Cloning Road to The TSH Receptor and Autoimmune Graves' Disease.- Thyroid Peroxidase: Studies on Autoantibody Recognition, Gene Expression and Secondary Structure Prediction.- Session X ESCI Boerhaave Lecture for 1989.- Sjogren's Syndrome, a Model to Study Autoimmunity and Malignancy.