2009 marked the 20th anniversary of charles janeway's seminal hypothesis that the body's response to infection is mediated by receptors on immune cells that recognize microbial patterns. Before this, immunologists primarily studied T and B lymphocytes, which express highly specific antigen receptors, but Janeway's prediction that direct microbial detection by immune cells other than lymphocytes precedes and is required for subsequent lymphocyte activation helped open the door to a new field of immunology: the study of the innate immune system. Much work over the past 20 years has borne out Janeway's predictions, and the fundamental importance of the innate immune system is now well established.
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