| Citation | Distinguished for his demonstration, jointly with Dr. Deborah Doniach, of autoantiboodies in clinical disorders of the thyroid gland. This discovery made in 1956 provided the first practical basis for the concept of autoimmunity as a cause of human disease. Roitt subsequently developed methods for detecting autoantibodies which are used in present routine diagnostic procedures. He introduced the widely used Clq solid phase assay for immune complexes and with this has studied the role of IgG as an autoantigen in rheumatoid arthritis. He established the characteristics of 'null cells' responsible for the killing of antibody coated target cells and in 1969 proposed the now standard nomenclature for B and T cells. His recent work has involved the use of anti-idiotype monoclonal antibodies to suppress autoantibody formation. |