Discrimination and dialogue in the immune system.

This paper presents reasons for concluding that the immune system maintains the individual body throughout the vicissitudes of life without the need to make an absolute distinction between self and nonself. Self-maintenance and defence against parasites both require measured inflammation, and the immune system, in both its innate and adaptive arms, regulates inflammation. The intensity, dynamics and orchestration of inflammation emerge from an ongoing dialogue. Copyright 2000 Academic Press.