Immunological tolerance and the autoimmune response

The discovery by McIntire and Faulk of masked autoantibodies calls into question the mechanisms of self recognition that exist in the human body. Their finding is reviewed in relation to three other facets of the interaction of humans with the foreign agencies with which they come in contact, innate immunity, microchimaerism and communicable disease-causing infections. It is concluded that the capacity to respond to foreign agencies may not primarily be defensive and that self recognition is probably an active process rather than dependent on elimination of self reactive capacity. (C) 2008 Published by Elsevier B.V.