Theories of Immune Networks

1. Front Matter

   Pages I-VIII

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2. Introduction to Immune Networks

   1. Introduction to Immune Networks

      • H. Atlan, I. R. Cohen

      Pages 1-3

3. Part I

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 5-5

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   2. Natural Id-Anti-Id Networks and the Immunological Homunculus

      • I. R. Cohen

      Pages 6-12

   3. Self-Nonself Immunological Tolerance and Idiotype Networks

      • J. Urbain, G. Urbain-Vansanten, D. De Wit

      Pages 13-23

4. Part II

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 25-25

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   2. Extensive Percolation in Reasonable Idiotypic Networks

      • R. J. De Boer

      Pages 26-37

   3. The Concept of Idiotypic Network: Deficient or Premature?

      • Z. Grossman

      Pages 38-52

   4. Dynamical Behavior of Discrete Models of Jerne’s Network

      • G. Weisbuch

      Pages 53-62

   5. Some Reflections on Memory in Shape Space

      • L. A. Segel, A. S. Perelson

      Pages 63-70

5. Part III

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 71-71

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   2. Regulation of the Immune Response: A Discrete Mapping Approach

      • M. Kaufman

      Pages 72-84

   3. Simulation of the Immune Cellular Response by Small Neural Networks

      • H. Atlan, S. Hoffer-Snyder

      Pages 85-98

   4. Discrete Time Versus Continuous Time Approach to the Autoimmune Response

      • K. E. Kürten

      Pages 99-106

   5. Optimizing the Immune Control of Parasitic Invasion

      • Z. Agur

      Pages 107-115

6. Back Matter

   Pages 117-117

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For a long time, immunology has been dominated by the idea of a simple linear cause-effect relationship between the exposure to an antigen and the production of specific antibodies against that antigen. Clonal selection was the name of the theory based on this idea and it has provided the main concepts to account for the known features of the immune response. More recently, immunologists have discovered a wealth of new facts, in the form of different regulatory cells (helpers, suppressors, antigen presenting cells), genetic determinations of immune responses such as those involved in graft re­ jections, different molecular structures responsible for intercellular interactions such as interleukins, cytokins, idiotype-antiidiotype recognition and others. While furthering our understanding of the local interactions (molecular and cellular) in­ volved in the immune response, these discoveries have led to a questioning of the simplicities of the classical clonal selection theory. It is clear today that every single immune response is a cooperative phenomenon involving several different molecular and cellular interactions taking place in a coupled manner. In addition, cross reactivity to different antigens has shown that responses of the whole im­ mune system to different antigens are not completely isolated from one another and that the history of encounters with different antigens plays a crucial role in the maturation of the whole system. Thus, problems of complexity, generation of di­ versity and self-organization have entered the field of immunology.

• Antigen
• Immunology
• Learning
• Networks
• Neural Nets
• cells
• lymphocytes
• receptor

• Department of Medical Biophysics, Hadassah University Hospital, Jerusalem, Israel

  Henri Atlan

• Faculté de Médecine, Broussait-Hotel Dieu, Université de Paris VI, Paris, France

  Henri Atlan

• The Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel

  Irun R. Cohen

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