The self and the nonself: immunorecognition and immunologic functions

Area of Science:

• Immunology
• Cellular Biology
• Evolutionary Biology

Background:

• The classical view of the immune system centers on self-nonself discrimination and self-tolerance.
• Recent discoveries challenge this dogma, revealing internal activation and autoreactive clones in healthy individuals.
• Understanding immunorecognition structures is key to distinguishing immune reactivity and tolerance.

Purpose of the Study:

• To re-evaluate the fundamental principles of immune system function.
• To explore the evolutionary origins of immune recognition.
• To redefine the basis of autoimmune diseases.

Main Methods:

• Conceptual analysis of immune system function.
• Review of evolutionary immunology.
• Examination of immunorecognition mechanisms.

Main Results:

• The immune system's capacity to recognize nonself predates clonal receptors.
• High autoreactivity suggests a specialization in self-identification rather than a failure to ignore self.
• Autoreactive clones are present and active in healthy individuals.

Conclusions:

• The immune system may have evolved for self-identification, a fundamental cellular activity.
• Autoimmune diseases could represent pathological deviations of this physiological self-identification function.
• A revised understanding of immune reactivity and tolerance is necessary.