Immune evolution and autoimmunity: Remarks on the review entitled 'Evolution of immune systems from selfot self to danger to artificial immune systems (AIS)'

摘要

All living organisms possess various reactions to keep self-integrity. An earlier notion that non-specific so-called “innate immunity” separated from highly specific “adaptive immunity” is without merit. Innate immune system in highly evolved vertebrates – including humans – is responsible for rapid, immediate answers against invader pathogens, can trigger the adaptive immunity in case of the initial response is ineffective. In his comprehensive review Prof. Edwin L. Cooper governs the readers through the evolution of immunity and recent models about initiation of immune response. Dr. Cooper emphasizes the role of innate immunity starting from unicellular organism ending at mammals. Meanwhile, he leads us through the major immunological recognition and activation theories from Janeway’s selfon-self recognition to Polly Matzinger’s danger hypothesis and from Burnet’s clonal selection to Smith’s quantal theory. Recently, there is a trend to synthesize the selfon-self vs. danger models, particularly proving that receptors distinguish pathogen and danger signals simultaneously [1].