Pioneering work by Noel Rose and Ernst Witebsky in New York, and Roitt and Doniach at University College London provided clear evidence that, at least in terms of antibody-producing B lymphocytes, diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and thyrotoxicosis are associated with loss of immunological tolerance, which is the ability of an individual to ignore "self", while reacting to "non-self".
More modern uses of saponins in biotechnology are as adjuvants in vaccines: Quil A and its derivative QS-21, isolated from the bark of Quillaja saponaria Molina, to stimulate both the Th1 immune response and the production of cytotoxic T-lymphocytes (CTLs) against exogenous antigens make them ideal for use in subunit vaccines and vaccines directed against intracellular pathogens as well as for therapeutic cancer vaccines but with the aforementioned side-effects of hemolysis.
After completing her studies in mathematics and biology at the University of Bonn and the University of Heidelberg, Maria Leptin worked for her PhD at Basel Institute for Immunology, Switzerland, (1979-1983) studying the B-lymphocytes activation under the supervision of Fritz Melchers.
The term ‘protective autoimmunity’ was coined by Prof. Michal Schwartz of the Weizmann Institute of Science (Israel), whose pioneering studies were the first to demonstrate that autoimmune T lymphocytes can have a beneficial role in repair, following an injury to the central nervous system (CNS).
It is a monoclonal antibody that targets CD52, a protein that is expressed on the surface of mature lymphocytes.
Lymphocytes move to the epidermis where they reside as a memory T cells, they will thus be activated and will trigger inflammatory response.