The Indirect Template Theory

“(i) To account for the non-antigenicity of body components these were assumed to carry ‘ self-markers ‘; at some point in the antibody-producing sequence a ‘recognition unit’ was postulated to act as a means of detecting material carrying self-markers and deflecting it from the possibility of immune response;

(ii) To account for the persistence of antibody-producing capacity it was postulated that a ‘genocopy’ of the antigenic determinant was incorporated in the genome of the Stem cell concerned, so allowing the indefinite production of descendant antibody-producing cells;

(iii) This incorporation of pattern determinants into the genetic structure of antibody-producing cells provided some basis for the changes in antibody character that may result from secondary antigenic stimuli or simple lapse of time.”

Burnet, F.M & Fenner, F. The Production of Antibodies. Monograph of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, Melbourne, 2nd Edition, 1953