Cutting Edge Commentary: A Copernican Revolution? Doubts About the Danger Theory

Abstract

The immune system is often said to function by “self-nonself” discrimination. Recently, some have argued that it actually detects “danger” or “strangers.” There are problems with all of these points of view. Given that the immune system has been cobbled together throughout evolution and uses a diverse array of innate and adaptive defense mechanisms, it may not be possible to account for immunity within one “paradigm” or another.