Immune network theory

The immune network theory is a theory of how the adaptive immune system works, that has been developed since 1974 mainly by Niels Jerne^[1] and Geoffrey W. Hoffmann.^[2][3] The theory states that the immune system is an interacting network of lymphocytes and molecules that have variable (V) regions. These V regions bind not only to things that are foreign to the vertebrate, but also to other V regions within the system. The immune system is therefore seen as a network, with the components connected to each other by V-V interactions.

It has been suggested that the phenomena that the theory describes in terms of networks are also explained by clonal selection theory.^[4][5]

The scope of the symmetrical network theory developed by Hoffmann includes the phenomena of low dose and high dose tolerance, first reported for a single antigen by Avrion Mitchison,^[6] and confirmed by Geoffrey Shellam and Sir Gustav Nossal,^[7] the helper^[8] and suppressor roles ^[9] of T cells, the role of non-specific accessory cells in immune responses,^[10] and the very important phenomenon called I-J. Jerne was awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiology in 1984 partly for his work towards the clonal selection theory, as well as his proposal of the immune network concept.^[11]

The immune network theory has also inspired a subfield of optimization algorithms similar to artificial neural networks.^[12]