A basic tenet of antibody-based immunity is their specificity to antigenic determinates from foreign pathogen products to abnormal cellular components such as in cancer. However, an antibody has the potential to bind to more than one determinate, be it an antigen or another antibody. These observations led to the idiotype network theory (INT) to explain immune regulation, which has wax and waned in enthusiasm over the years. A truer measure of the impact of the INT is in terms of the ideas that now form the mainstay of immunological research and whose roots are spawned from the promise of the anti-idiotype concept. Among the applications of the INT is understanding the structural implications of the antibody-mediated network that has the potential for innovation in terms of rational design of reagents with biological, chemical, and pharmaceutical applications that underlies concepts of reverse immunology which is highlighted herein.

The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH or UAMS. Drs. Kieber-Emmons, Monzavi-Karbassi, and UAMS have a financial interest in the technology discussed in this publication. These financial interests have been reviewed and approved in accordance with the UAMS conflict of interest policies.