[Autoantibodies and immunologic theories]

A hypothesis is put forward to the effect that immunological phenomena represent a particular case of the transport of metabolites, rather than obligatory "defense mechanism". This hypothesis excludes the necessity in additional postulates (forbidden clones, somatic mutations, cells-repressors etc.) to account for the basic immunological phenomena, such as recognition, appearance of autoantibodies and tolerance. It suffices to assume that: 1) autolytic enzymes destroy "their" antigens but cannot destroy completely "foreign" antigens; 2) as a result of decomposition of antigens by enzymes, "tolerogens" may appear which block the receptors in immunocompetent cells thus preventing the appearance of antibodies; 3) cells capable to synthesize autoantibodies exist in the normal organism but not activated due to the absence of "their" antigens. When such antigens appear, they initiate the synthesis of antibodies. The hypothesis advanced may appear too simple as compared with the existing theories, but experiments have to confirm it.