this wing of the immune response—neutrophils, macrophages, among other cell types, with their attendant signals and chemokines—began to be termed the “innate immune system.”II Innate, in part, because it exists inherently in us, with no requirement to adapt to, or learn, any aspect of the microbe that caused the infection. (We will come to the adaptive wing of the immune response, with B cells, T cells, and antibodies, in the next chapter.) Innate, also, because it is the most ancient wing of the immune system and therefore innate to our ancestors. Starfish have it, as Metchnikoff first
...more
