My little analogy of T cells anergy and tolerance

• Think of you and your T cells thinking as a relationship. So you can think of this process as finding someone to date. The T cells need to be at least weakly attracted to you by your outer appearance (self-MHC). If they’re not then you reject them- positive selection. Then you begin to date them for a while and get more intimate with them (go toward the inner medullary thymus). When you’re getting to know them better you need to know whether they like you as a person. If they react poorly to who you really are (your self-peptides) then you need to reject them-negative selection