title: The danger model: a renewed sense of self.
abstract: For over 50 years immunologists have based their thoughts, experiments, and clinical treatments on the idea that the immune system functions by making a distinction between self and nonself. Although this paradigm has often served us well, years of detailed examination have revealed a number of inherent problems. This Viewpoint outlines a model of immunity based on the idea that the immune system is more concerned with entities that do damage than with those that are foreign.
authors.affiliation: Ghost Lab, Laboratory for Cellular and Molecular Immunology, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA. pcm@helix.nih.gov
authors.forename: Polly
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Matzinger
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000938:Antigen-Presenting Cells / Q000276:immunology; D015551:Autoimmunity; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D005333:Fetus / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007107:Immune System / Q000502:physiology*; D007109:Immunity; D007239:Infections / Q000276:immunology; D018448:Models, Immunological; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface / Q000502:physiology; D011971:Receptors, Immunologic / Q000502:physiology; D017634:Self Tolerance; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D023001:Transplantation Tolerance
chemical_list: D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface; D011971:Receptors, Immunologic