Autoimmunity, microbial immunity and the immunological homunculus

Immunol Today. 1991 Apr;12(4):105-10. doi: 10.1016/0167-5699(91)90093-9.

Abstract

Clonal deletion and anergy are believed by many immunologists to be the fundamental mechanisms responsible for self tolerance. Nevertheless, as Irun Cohen and Douglas Young point out, such notions of nonreactivity cannot explain certain key features of immune behaviour: the immunological dominance of microbial antigens that mimic self, the uniformity of autoimmune diseases and the prevalence of natural autoimmunity among the healthy. The theory of the immunological homunculus is presented here as a unifying principle.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Antigens, Bacterial / immunology
  • Antigens, Helminth / immunology
  • Antigens, Protozoan / immunology
  • Autoantigens / immunology
  • Autoimmune Diseases / etiology
  • Autoimmune Diseases / immunology
  • Autoimmunity*
  • Heat-Shock Proteins / immunology
  • Humans
  • Immune System / immunology*
  • Immune Tolerance*
  • Immunity, Innate
  • Immunodominant Epitopes / immunology*
  • Mice
  • Models, Biological
  • Rats
  • Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid

Substances

  • Antigens, Bacterial
  • Antigens, Helminth
  • Antigens, Protozoan
  • Autoantigens
  • Heat-Shock Proteins
  • Immunodominant Epitopes