So what evidence is there to support this broad hypothesis?

This is a list of support and further reading that might help to establish the value of some of the ideas.

Where the article is behind a paywall there are a few ways still to be able to obtain the article. Look at the PubMed entry [PMED] and see if it is available in the repository. (You can also go directly to this repository to search for the paper.) If not available, searh for the article in Google Scholar . The authors' web repositories can sometimes be found. Finally, seach in any general search engine – I prefer Google as advertising sites do not obscure the wanted results too much. In desperation, consider approaching the authors.

Inflammation

Innate Immunity

Evolution and comparative immunology

Immune surveillance for cancer (and other cancer articles)

Gap junctions and immune function

Tissue homeostasis (including apoptosis as part of this)

Autoimmunity (this is arguably a subset of tissue homeostasis)

Autophagy and Apoptosis

Models and hypothesis and the philosophy of immunity

PAMPs or MAMPs (pathogen or microbe associated molecular patterns) and pathogens

Identity

Pathogenicity

Philosophical bits

History of immunology

Beating back the tide of entropy – life as a manifestation of entropy dissipation

Innovation

Tolerance

Other interesting references

And now there is an increasing flurry or articles wanting to challenge conventional views

Computing – maintaining integrity – an emerging view that uses analogies with biology

And now some physics related references