Antiidiotypic networks.

Jerne envisions the immune system as a web of V domains that constitutes an idiotypic network. He thinks that regulatory processes governed by idiotypic interactions can explain the generation of the various immune states. We discuss a few models that furnish information about the possible configuration of this immune network: closed or open ended. It appears that closed configurations only can generate stable immune states. Moreover, we cite some experimental data in favor of the network hypothesis. We show how they can lead to propose the structure of functional regulatory circuits whose cellular and molecular interactions are mediated by idiotypic recognition processes.