Self-tolerance for erythrocytes is not maintained by clonal deletion of T helper cells

Recent findings suggest that T helper cells specific for autologous erythrocytes are not deleted from the repertoire of the normal animal. Here, Craig Hooper proposes that tolerance of normal erythrocytes is achieved partly by conventional immunoregulation and partly by a novel process which normally prevents priming with autoantigens in vivo. The nature of the initial contact with antigen may determine which mechanism has the primary role.