title: From terra firma to terra plana--danger is shaking the foundations: deconstructing the 'immune system'.
abstract: The paradigm of an immune system presumes that a system arose specifically to combat infection -- hence its name. This paradigm gained credibility with the discovery of antibodies and anamnestic immunity, even though these are relatively late arrivals in evolution. Another presumption has been that thymus-dependent T cells are responsible for discriminating self from non-self. Subsequent opinion has crystallized around these presumptions. This paradigm is flawed. Transforming it into a morphostatic system resolves the problems. There is, arguably, no such thing as an immune system.
authors.affiliation: Waterside Health Centre, Hythe, Southampton, UK. jamie_cunliffe@email.msn.com
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cunliffe
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003141:Communicable Diseases / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007107:Immune System; D018448:Models, Immunological