The Role of the Thymus in Immunologic Deficiency Disorders in Man

Abstract

Immune defects in so-called immunologic deficiency syndromes in man (IDS) are the consequences of true developmental disorders which sets them in marked contrast to deficiency states that have been artificially induced by the postnatal ablation of immunologically active organs. Developmental failure of a particular organ or cell line with immunologic potential not only expresses itself in a functional deficiency or in the absence of one or more types of immunoglobulins, but also in morphologically detectable defects.