AUTHOR=Pradeu Thomas, Cooper Edwin TITLE=The danger theory: 20 years later JOURNAL=Frontiers in Immunology VOLUME=3 YEAR=2012 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2012.00287 DOI=10.3389/fimmu.2012.00287 ISSN=1664-3224 ABSTRACT=The self–non-self theory has dominated immunology since the 1950s. In the 1990s, Matzinger and her colleagues suggested a new, competing theory, called the “danger theory.” This theory has provoked mixed acclaim: enthusiasm and criticism. Here we assess the danger theory vis-à-vis recent experimental data on innate immunity, transplantation, cancers and tolerance to foreign entities, and try to elucidate more clearly whether danger is well defined.