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Tolerance, Danger, and the Extended Family

Tolerance, Danger, and the Extended Family For many years immunologists have been well served by the viewpoint that the immune system's primary goal is to discriminate between self and non-self. I believe that it is time to change viewpoints and, in this essay, I discuss the possibility that the immune system does not care about self and non-self, that its primary driving force is the need to detect and protect against danger, and that it does not do the job alone, but receives positive and negative communications from an extended network of other bodily tissues. INTRODUCTION Among the fundamental questions in immunology, there are three that lie at the heart of the regulation of immunity. They are: 1) How is self­ tolerance induced and maintained? 2) How is memory induced and main­ tained? and 3) How is the class of response determined? This essay is about the first one, tolerance (actually T cell tolerance), but it is also about something deeper, something that affects the way we think about every aspect of immunity. It is about the belief that the immune system's primary driving force is the need to discriminate between self and non-self. I have abandoned this belief. Over the years that I http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Annual Review of Immunology Annual Reviews

Tolerance, Danger, and the Extended Family

Annual Review of Immunology , Volume 12 (1) – Apr 1, 1994

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Publisher
Annual Reviews
Copyright
Copyright 1994 Annual Reviews. All rights reserved
Subject
Review Articles
ISSN
0732-0582
eISSN
1545-3278
DOI
10.1146/annurev.iy.12.040194.005015
pmid
8011301
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

For many years immunologists have been well served by the viewpoint that the immune system's primary goal is to discriminate between self and non-self. I believe that it is time to change viewpoints and, in this essay, I discuss the possibility that the immune system does not care about self and non-self, that its primary driving force is the need to detect and protect against danger, and that it does not do the job alone, but receives positive and negative communications from an extended network of other bodily tissues. INTRODUCTION Among the fundamental questions in immunology, there are three that lie at the heart of the regulation of immunity. They are: 1) How is self­ tolerance induced and maintained? 2) How is memory induced and main­ tained? and 3) How is the class of response determined? This essay is about the first one, tolerance (actually T cell tolerance), but it is also about something deeper, something that affects the way we think about every aspect of immunity. It is about the belief that the immune system's primary driving force is the need to discriminate between self and non-self. I have abandoned this belief. Over the years that I

Journal

Annual Review of ImmunologyAnnual Reviews

Published: Apr 1, 1994

There are no references for this article.