Abstract
The immune system does not just fight pathogens but also engages
in interactions with beneficial microbes and non-immune
cells of the body to harmonize their behavior by means of cytokines,
antibodies and effector cells (Dinarello, 2007; Moticka, 2015,
pp. 217e226, 261e267). However, the importance of these
“housekeeping” functions has not been fully appreciated (Cohen,
2000).
In his new book Immunity: The Evolution of an Idea Alfred I.
Tauber traces the history of fundamental ideas in immunology and
refers to recent advances in the field to overturn the notion that
immunity is the ability of an autonomous organism to protect itself
against pathogens. Indeed, as suggested by the author, the autonomy
of the organism is illusive because individuals develop as
holobionts: functionally integrated multispecies consortia (p. 98).
Similarly, he suggests that pathogenicity also emerges from the lack
of subordination of a microbe to social welfare of the holobiont
rather than from context-independent properties of this organism
(pp. 165, 181).
Emphasizing the contextual character of the parasite and the
host, Tauber redefines immunity as an active process of coordination
of a cellular ecosystem, which allows this collective to navigate
through challenges of the environment and to face demands of the
communal living (pp. 10e16). From this point of view, the failure to
modulate intercellular interactions by the immune system entails
mitigating immunity and impairing resistance to infection and
disease (pp. 103e104). Immunity is a groundbreaking work establishing
a new framework for understanding the function and activity
of the immune system. Its value also lies in the fact that it
serves as an important stepping-stone towards an integrated
philosophical, ecological and immunological study of our embedment
in the microbial world.