The Danger Theory: Twenty Years Later

Thomas Pradeu (1, 2) , Edwin L Cooper (3)

1 UP4 UFR Philo - Université Paris-Sorbonne - Paris 4 - UFR Philosophie
2 IHPST - Institut d'Histoire et de Philosophie des Sciences et des Techniques
3 UCLA - University of California [Los Angeles]

The self-nonself theory has dominated immunology since the 1950s. In the 1990s, Matzinger and her colleagues suggested a new, competing theory, called the “danger theory.” This theory has provoked mixed acclaim: enthusiasm and criticism. Here we assess the danger theory vis-à-vis recent experimental data on innate immunity, transplantation, cancers and tolerance to foreign entities, and try to elucidate more clearly whether danger is well defined.

Domaines: Histoire, Philosophie et Sociologie des sciences; Sciences du Vivant [q-bio]; Immunologie

Thomas Pradeu, Edwin L Cooper. The Danger Theory: Twenty Years Later. Frontiers in Immunology, 2012, 3 (287), ⟨10.3389/fimmu.2012.00287⟩. ⟨hal-01343697⟩