Polly Matzinger - Challenges To Matzinger's Theories

Challenges To Matzinger's Theories

There is now a growing body of work on "regulatory T-cells" which argues that immune activity is stopped by a special subset of T-cells. These ideas challenge several of the key specifics of Matzinger's model.

A student sitting in an immunology class today will likely hear many phrases coined by Matzinger (like "professional antigen-presenting-cell" or "danger signal" or "DAMPs" (damage associated molecular patterns") but will often hear them in the framework of a self-non-self explanation of immunity. Other immunologists have often adapted parts of Matzinger's ideas without adopting the Danger Model as a theoretical framework.

Indeed, in an era of increasingly detailed molecular work, many immunologists simply avoid constructing an alternative broad theory of immune function. Others believe that the immune system is not a single system at all, and is instead a set of mechanisms "cobbled together" by evolution. If this is true, no single theory can explain the function of the system as a whole. For both of these reasons, Matzinger has had to defend her larger theory, but also has had to defend the value of grand theory itself.