Abstract
There are two reasons why the evolution of the immune system is an important question for theoretical immunology. Firstly, it is a fascinating subject in its own right; and whether we are theoreticians or experimentalists, we can hardly claim to be true biologists if we have no knowledge of the evolutionary origin of the system we are studying. Secondly, a major requirement for effective theoretical modelling of the immune system lies in the judicious choice of radical simplifications which nevertheless grasp essential features of the system. A consideration of evolution is a tool in this direction: when the immune sytem first appeared, it presumably existed in a relatively simple “primordial” form which we might be able to take as the basis for a simplified model.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Buss LW (1987) The Evolution of Individuality. Princeton University Press, Princeton.
Du Pasquier L (1989) Evolution of the immune system. In: W.E. Paul (ed) Fundamental Immunology, Raven, New York, pi39
Edelman G (1987) CAMs and Igs: cell adhesion and the evolutionary origins of immunity. Immunol Rev 100: 11 - 45
Fontaine M (1948) Formes actuelles des cyclostomes. In: Traité de Zoologie, vol. XIII. Masson, Paris, p 13
Jerne NK (1974) Towards a network theory of the immune system. Annales d’immunologie (Institut Pasteur) 125C: 373–389
Klein J (1982) Immunology: the science of self-nonself discrimination. Wiley, New York
Langman RE (1989) The immune system. Evolutionary principles guide our understanding of this complex biological defense system. Academic Press, San Diego
Perelson AS (1984) Some mathematical models of receptor clustering by multivalent ligands. In: Perelson AS, Delisi C, Wiegel FW (eds) Cell Surface Dynamics, Concepts and Models. Marcel Dekker, New York, p 223
Piaget J. (1976). Le comportement, moteur de l’évolution. Gallimard, Paris.
Segel LA, Perelson AS (1989) Shapespace analysis of immune networks. In: Goldbeter A (ed) Cell to Cell Signalling: from experiments to theoretical models. Academic Press, New York
Stewart J, Varela FJ (1991) Morphogenesis in shape-space: elementary metadynamics in a model of the immune network. J Theor Biol (in press)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1992 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Stewart, J. (1992). The Immune System in an Evolutionary Perspective. In: Perelson, A.S., Weisbuch, G. (eds) Theoretical and Experimental Insights into Immunology. NATO ASI Series, vol 66. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-76977-1_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-76977-1_3
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-76979-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-76977-1
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive