Analysis of Paris meeting redefining the “Self” of the immune system

Some ideas because of their intuitive appeal never die by neglect and survive because they are not amenable to experimental disproof. They can only be evaluated by weighing them against competing ideas and by invoking a credibility factor when used to explain observation. Most scientists would recom...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inImmunologic research Vol. 62; no. 1; pp. 106 - 124
Main Author Cohn, Melvin
Format Journal Article Conference Proceeding
LanguageEnglish
Published New York Springer US 01.05.2015
Springer Nature B.V
Subjects
Allergology
Animals
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Biomedicine
Humans
Immune System
Immunology
Internal Medicine
Medicine/Public Health
Self Tolerance
T-suppression
Idiotype networks
Self–Nonself discrimination
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Summary:Some ideas because of their intuitive appeal never die by neglect and survive because they are not amenable to experimental disproof. They can only be evaluated by weighing them against competing ideas and by invoking a credibility factor when used to explain observation. Most scientists would recommend ignoring such ideas, yet there is much to be learned by engaging their proponents in debate. The immune system viewed as an idiotype network, and its tweaking by the new school of “contextualists” is an example of such an idea. As chance would have it, the supporters of this idea gathered in a meeting, thereby permitting a cumulative analysis of this conceptualization. The goal of this essay is to compare the views of each of the speakers in light of a competing theory with the hope that a better understanding of immune responsiveness will emerge.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Conference-1
SourceType-Conference Papers & Proceedings-1
content type line 25
ISSN:0257-277X
1559-0755
DOI:10.1007/s12026-015-8641-5