Self and Nonself

In 1960 Sir Frank Macfarlane Burnet received the Noble Prize in Physiology and Medicine. He titled his Nobel Lecture 'Immunological Recognition of Self' emphasizing the central argument of immunological tolerance in 'How does the vertebrate organism recognize self from nonself in this the immunological sense-and how did the capacity evolve.' The concept of self is linked to the concept of biological self identity. All organisms, from bacteria to higher animals, possess recognition systems to defend themselves from nonself. Even in the context of the limited number of metazoan phyla that have been studied in detail, we can now describe many of the alternative mechanism of immune recognition that have emerged at varying points in phylogeny. Two different arms-the innate and adaptive immune system-have emerged at different moments in evolution, and they are conceptually different. The ultimate goals of immune biology include reconstructing the molecular networks underlying immune processes.

Carlos López-Larrea is Professor of Immunology (Oviedo, Spain) and currently Head of the Department of Immunology at the Hospital Universitario Central de Asturias (Oviedo, Spain). He is a world expert on spondyloarthropathies (SpA), in particular genetic (MHC) and genetic factors that influence the development of the disease. The main research interests of his group also currently include the study of epigenetic mechanisms involved in autoimmune diseases and the role of innate immunity in organ transplantation tolerance. He is a member of several international scientific organizations and board member of different scientific journals. He has published more than 150 international papers and books related to immunology and spondylaorthropathies.