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Science 12 April 2002:
Vol. 296. no. 5566, pp. 301 - 305
DOI: 10.1126/science.1071059
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Viewpoint

The Danger Model: A Renewed Sense of Self

Polly Matzinger

For over 50 years immunologists have based their thoughts, experiments, and clinical treatments on the idea that the immune system functions by making a distinction between self and nonself. Although this paradigm has often served us well, years of detailed examination have revealed a number of inherent problems. This Viewpoint outlines a model of immunity based on the idea that the immune system is more concerned with entities that do damage than with those that are foreign.

Ghost Lab, Laboratory for Cellular and Molecular Immunology, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA. E-mail: pcm{at}helix.nih.gov

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)