title: Simplicity belies a complex system: a response to the minimal model of immunity of Langman and Cohn.
abstract: Langman and Cohn have written a paper entitled "If the immune repertoire evolved to be large, random, and somatically generated, then em leader " This paper uses reductionist logic to prove that the minimal model of immunity proposed by Langman and Cohn is the only reasonable description of the workings of the immune system. Here we analyze the logic behind this model and show that the complexity of the real immune system contradicts the teachings of Langman and Cohn.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, The Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel. sol.efroni@weizmann.ac.il
authors.forename: Sol
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Efroni
authors.forename: Irun R
authors.initials: IR
authors.lastname: Cohen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000941:Antigens / Q000276:immunology; D015551:Autoimmunity; D006801:Humans; D007107:Immune System / Q000276:immunology*; D007110:Immunity, Active; D018448:Models, Immunological; D017634:Self Tolerance
chemical_list: D000941:Antigens