I’M Not Sick: Neither Are Earthworms, Sea Peaches, Tadpoles, and Tilapia

I’m Not Sick

Neither are Earthworms, Sea Peaches, Tadpoles, and Tilapia

Edwin L. Cooper

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Published by AuthorHouse 06/23/2017

ISBN: 978-1-5246-9765-5 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5246-9764-8 (e)

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A Personal Account on the

Evolution of the Immune System

Edwin L. Cooper

Laboratory of Comparative Immunology

Department of Neurobiology

David Geffen School of Medicine

University of California Los Angeles

Los Angeles California, 90095-1763

Contents

DCI: A Unique Face in Immunology

Actual Beginning of I’m Not Sick

Enter Asia: Spreading the Influence

Carnival of Animals

Pushing Back: A Newer Beginning

Early Introduction

The Merits of Writings:

Some with Notable Significance

Comparative Immunology Qua Complementary Medicine?

eCAM

Overlap of Immuno-Neuro Endocrine System

Self vs. Nonself

Danger Theory

Immunity and Territory

Aggression and Immunity: A Tribute to Tilapia

A Setting Hen

Those Old Yellow Jackets

International Outreach—Extending the Hand of Friendship

Music

Enter Mexico

Art

Art to the Rescue

La Familia

Boissardon and Hélène

My Children: Astrid and Amaury

Ceremonies

My First Academic Position

Function: Products of Immune System

Where Are We?

Cells of the Immune System

I’m Not Sick

Earthworms

Epilogue: Grafting of Earthworms

Acknowledgments

About the Book

DCI: A Unique Face in Immunology

For a very long time, I dreamed of publishing my own book or books. As I pursued my graduate education, the idea of producing a journal became a real preoccupation. Like any idea, publishing a journal resembles other projects requiring answers to common, fairly uniform questions: 1) Why is a journal devoted to development of the immune system needed? 2) What would it consist of? 3) Who would produce it? 4) What kind of essential collaboration would assure immediate and, most importantly, long-term success—filling a gap and satisfying an intellectual need? 5) Who would be the editors? I would surely welcome collaborators!

Immunology in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s was sharply focused on the immune system of mice as a model most closely associated to humans. Thus, any new and emerging information would, by strong evidence and consensus, be applicable to understanding the human immune system. Compared to what we know now, the cell, organ, and ubiquity of the immune system was woefully scant. We know the basics about the thymus, lymph nodes, bone marrow, and the millions of cells developing within these structures; it was reasonably clear. Two main leukocytes were identified in these organs or in the ubiquitous blood and lymphatics (only lymphocytes) or blood that contains all the leukocytes and erythrocytes. The exact role of bone marrow was not clear initially except for attributing marrow as a source of all blood.

The chief component of the immune system (at least antibody synthesis and graft rejection) was to T and B lymphocytes. The source of thymus-derived T cells was clear—the thymus was assigned as the source of T cells, based upon sensitive and specific markers. These analyses identified the thymus as the source and also defined the specific regions where these cells homed and congregated—the so-called thymus-dependent region of the ubiquitous array of organs. Confirmation occurred when specific markers were attached to unlabeled lymphocytes, thus facilitating identification of the new home, the thymus-dependent area, the specific region of organs to which labeled cells migrated and remained.

Equivalent B-cell locales were more controversial. Here is the reason that opens the door for more intense phylogenetic analyses and questioning the availability of a journal to which evolutionary subjects might assist in interpretation. In birds, it was discovered that the bursa of fabricius, a cloacal lymphoid organ, was the site of B cell development. Knowing this, would such an interesting applicable piece of information be relevant to other prescient observations concerning diversity of lymphoid, or even more precisely, lymphomyloid organs aid in a new quest? I uncovered enormous bits of information from early literature concerning analyses of immune systems. Nevertheless, the description failed to link such peripheral lymphoid centers to sites vulnerable to infection via a phylogenetic or evolutionary approach. We could open the doors for establishing/founding/publishing a new immunology journal, adding to a growing list of other immunology journals but none treating phylogeny/ontogeny with developmental and evolutionary overtones. This would be accompanied by reasonably clear functional descriptions and heavily supported by morphological information, the most widely used strategy at that time.

Undoubtedly, this could be a veritable first unique journal, never before published, and obviously (at least to me) establishing a potent niche that would ultimately help us better understand the human immune system. I proposed to call it DCI (Developmental and Comparative Immunology), opening wide the doors for analyzing ontogeny and phylogeny or development and evolution. This was a superb idea for its ultimate approval, just before 1977.

As you will see later, the road was not easy, and a lot of peddling was essential in order to find a publisher—not an easy task (essentially a business deal, not academic). Not one to surrender because of a few prevailing doubts, I quickly persisted, notwithstanding a growing list of negative responses. After all, despite a very adequate proposal with clearly defined goals and benefits, ontogeny and phylogeny of the immune system was, during the mid-1970s—not a hot topic until the end of 1976. I halted my campaign because a publisher had come forth. Robert Miranda, director of publication for Pergamon Press of Elmsford, New York, sent a letter accepting my proposal and inviting me to meet him and discuss further my idea of a journal devoted to development of immunity. A meeting took place at the FASEB Congress in Anaheim, California. This was pleasant, most especially the anticipation of getting to the Congress—not just any old big meeting or confab—considered the largest gathering of American biomedical scientists of federated biology societies of all stripes. The American Association of Immunologists was one among more than twenty others. It was never clear which, if any, immunologists read the proposal.

Bob Miranda was especially pleasant, I felt, and spoke with ease about publishing with a giant like Pergamon Press. His specific concern was a particular timeline, i.e., how soon could I produce a first volume, issue 1? With enthusiasm, I blurted out, ASAP, January 1977. This meant that I had to 1) gather and ensure an editorial board, 2) write an editorial, and 3) engage someone, perhaps one of the newly appointed editors, to submit a paper. All of these points clicked in my head immediately and really were necessary to soothe Bob’s concerns and requirements.

DCI, as it had just been christened, with my blessings and those of Bob Miranda, was being born! Bob informed me that DCI was to be, for an indefinite period, a cut-and-paste journal. Bob broke this requirement at the last minute. Cut and paste and then photograph was a way to save money and still issue a legitimate publication. Deep down in the lowest levels of my gut, I disliked this way to publish—not first class, but done awkwardly with ugly, inconsistent typing and often unattractive figures. Comparative immunologists were poorly funded! Taking a deep swallow but not groaning, I wanted to know who would do the cutting and pasting, all on prescribed sheets of paper, properly lined to ensure precise layout. Bob’s response: Your choice.

Without permission, I promised that my wife, Hélène, would do it, although she was there with our son Amaury in a stroller. Thus, my first and only editorial assistant was to be Hélène Tournaire—not Hélène Cooper—thus preventing raising of the eyebrows and allegations of nepotism. Hélène said nothing during this tedious but cordial meeting, but I realized that a lot more would be expected of her than the cutting and pasting of components of a peer-reviewed paper. It was essential for her to manage peer review; nothing electronic. Stamps had to be purchased, referees had to be contacted, and sometimes conflicts had to be resolved. More often than not, negligent referees needed to be prodded, ever so gently and firmly to send back, usually ASAP, their requested answers to peer reviews.

Finally, accepted papers had to be returned and retyped. I always hoped for a Remington Selectric (not likely for Eastern European or Asian countries, which barely owned electric typewriters). Finally, spelling errors often required my judgment or other essential editorial interventions. The absolute final chores included running heads, cutting and pasting, and page numbering. Voila: volume 1, issue January 1977. I had to write an appropriate editorial, an essay that would be spicy, adding zest—pithy, precise, and meaningful. All the while as I cobbled together my opus number one, I was thinking of the second issue.

During that almost uninterrupted interlude of dashing ideas, I thought that a relevant and meaningful cover picture on this first issue and many issues to follow was essential. The title of the first editorial was Why Developmental and Comparative Immunology? The cover picture featured a small lymphocytic coelomocyte from earthworms—one of the primary mediators of transplant rejection across species. That cover was perfect, providing a leukocyte from an invertebrate, a lowly earthworm that could not be distinguished from a small lymphocyte from mice!

By the tenth anniversary of DCI, Hélène and I were a