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HYPOTHESIS AND THEORY article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Alloimmunity and Transplantation
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1563685
This article is part of the Research Topic Balancing Alloantigen-Induced Immune Responses and Anti-tumor Immunity in Transplantation View all 9 articles
From Seabed to Sickbed: lessons gained from allorecognition in marine invertebrates
Provisionally accepted- National Institute of Oceanography, Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research, Haifa, Israel
Despite decades of progress, long-term outcomes in human organ transplantation remain challenging. Functional decline in transplanted organs has stagnated over the past two decades, with most patients requiring lifelong immunosuppression, therapies that overlook the principles of self/non-self recognition and natural transplantation events in humans. To address these discrepancies, this perspective proposes that immunity evolved not as pathogen-driven but as a mechanism to preserve individuality by preventing invasion from parasitic conspecific cells. It further reveals that the concept of "self/non-self" recognition encompasses multiple theories with complex and often ambiguous terminology, lacking precise definitions. In comparisons, natural historecognition reactions in sessile marine invertebrates are regulated by a wide spectrum of precise and specific allorecognition systems, with transitive and non-transitive hierarchies. Using the coral Stylophora pistillata and the ascidian Botryllus schlosseri as models, it is evident these organisms distinguish 'self'from 'non-self'with remarkable accuracy across various allogeneic combinations, identifying each non-self entity while simultaneously recognizing selfhood through transitive allogeneic hierarchies. Their allorecognition offers an improved explanation for post-transplant outcomes by accounting for the natural dynamic, spatiotemporal evolution of selfhood. To bridge natural (in invertebrates and humans alike) and clinical transplantation phenomena, the 'allorecognition landscape'(AL) metaphor is proposed. This unified framework conceptualizes self/non-self recognition as shaped by two dynamic continuums of 'self' and 'non-self' nature. Throughout the patient lifespan, the AL represents diverse and transient arrays of specific 'self' and 'non-self' states (including reciprocal states) that shift over time in either recognition direction, requiring adaptable clinical strategies to address their evolving nature.
Keywords: marine invertebrates, Fusion, allorecognition landscape, Chimerism, corals, tunicates, self/non-self recognition, Organ Transplantation
Received: 20 Jan 2025; Accepted: 25 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Rinkevich. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Baruch Rinkevich, National Institute of Oceanography, Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research, Haifa, Israel
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