Tolerance, danger, and the extended family

P Matzinger - Annual review of immunology, 1994 - annualreviews.org
P Matzinger
Annual review of immunology, 1994annualreviews.org
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.
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.
Annual Reviews