When recently discussing the actual role that the immune system plays, or rather
what it does, I have become confused about my personal understanding. In school
I was always taught that "the role of the immune system is to protect self from
non-self." How then does autoimmune disease occur? Why can neonatal tolerance
be established? Why can some people receive allo-transplants (solid organ or
BMT) and achieve tolerance over time? Most obviously, how can the immune system
be 'trained' to recognize foreign (non-self) antigens as self (as in chronic
infections)? I'm just throwing these things out for discussion in hopes that
this group can prove to be more useful than a catalog of people asking for the
'reagent of the day."
Chris Thobur
