IMGT® Nomenclature of Immunoglobulins (IG) or Antibodies and T Cell Receptors (TR): A Common Language for Immunoinformatics and Artificial Intelligence (AI)

The immunoglobulins (IG) or antibodies and the T cell receptors (TR) are the antigen receptors of the adaptive immune responses (AIR) of jawed vertebrates (Gnathostomata). IMGT®, the international ImMunoGeneTics information system®, was created in 1989 by Marie-Paule Lefranc (Laboratoire d’ImmunoGénétique Moléculaire (LIGM), Université de Montpellier and CNRS) to deal with and to manage the huge diversity of IG or antibodies and TR. The founding of IMGT® marked the advent of immunoinformatics, a new science which emerged at the interface between immunogenetics and bioinformatics. For the first time, the IG and TR variable (V), diversity (D), joining (J) and constant (C) genes were officially recognized as ‘genes’, as were the conventional genes. The IMGT-ONTOLOGY CLASSIFICATION axiom and the concepts of classification have generated the IMGT nomenclature and the IMGT Scientific chart rules for assigning IMGT names to IG and TR genes and alleles of Homo sapiens and of any other jawed vertebrate species. The IMGT nomenclature is used for genes in locus, in sequences (genomic or rearranged, expressed or not) and in structures enabling comparative immunology, evolutionary immunogenetics, standardized analysis and comparison of IG and TR repertoires analysis in normal or pathologic situations. IMGT nomenclature is used in basic, veterinary, and medical research, in clinical applications (mutation analysis in leukemia and lymphoma), and in therapeutic antibody design, engineering and humanization. By providing consistent and high standard biocuration for the description of the IG and TR loci, genes and alleles, and for the analysis of the IG or antibody and TR-expressed rearranged sequences and proteins and structures, the IMGT nomenclature is the common language for immunoinformatics and artificial intelligence (AI).