If the "adaptive" immune system can recognize a significant portion of the pathogenic universe to which the "innate" immune system is blind, then...
The "adaptive" immune repertoire functionally recognizes pathogens (and their toxic products) that the "innate" defense system misses. This requires that the self-nonself discrimination and the regulation of effector output be dependent primarily on somatic learning mechanisms (i.e. on the somatically generated, large, random "adaptive" immune paratopes repertoire).
Cohn
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Conceptual Immunology Group, The Salk Institute for Biological Studies, 10010 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA. cohn@salk.edu
D006801:Humans; D007107:Immune System / Q000502:physiology*; D007108:Immune Tolerance / Q000276:immunology; D007111:Immunity, Cellular / Q000276:immunology; D007113:Immunity, Innate / Q000276:immunology*; D018448:Models, Immunological; D006377:T-Lymphocytes, Helper-Inducer / Q000276:immunology