Lecture 1 Immunology

Immunology:-
Immunology is a field of study in which a person studies the components of the
immune system (such as lymph nodes, white blood cells, and antibodies), their
functions, and their diseases. Or,
Immunology is the study of how the body prevents infection. Immunologists can
study basic immunology, looking at the function of cells, or get into clinical
immunology, which looks at how immune system disorders can cause disease.
Or, Immunology is the scientific study of how the body protects itself against
infectious diseases caused by different pathogenic microorganisms such as
bacteria, viruses, protozoa, and fungi, and also parasitic organisms, such as
helminth worms.

What is Immunity?
Have you ever had a cold? Did you know that the classic symptoms are actually
part of your immune system working to fight off germs? The sneezing and
runny nose help physically push germs out of the body, and the fever can kill
germs that can't handle the heat. In addition, you have cells throughout your
body that are specially trained to hunt down and kill specific viruses and
bacteria.
The study of the body's defenses is called immunology. The immune system is
typically associated with defending against foreign invaders (pathogens), but it
can fight against cancer as well.
Immunologists can study basic immunology, which simply asks how the
immune system does its job. They can also study clinical immunology, which
looks at how disorders of the immune system can cause disease, but also how
we can work with it to successfully do transplants and make vaccines to prevent
disease.
Branches of Immunology
1. Basic immunology: - is a branch of immunology that looks at what generally
happens in the immune system. For example, what functions do different types
of immune cells and chemicals have? How do they react to different functions?
Some basic immunologists focus on the innate immune system, which protects
against all possible invaders. That is, the components of the innate immune
system are not picky about what they attack. Anything that can be seen as
foreign is targeted.

1
 A human neutrophil, in green, is eating and destroying bacteria, in pink.
Immunologists can study how different types of cells behave and contribute to
immunology. For example, neutrophils are a type of white blood cell that are
part of the innate immune system. These cells patrol the body, eating up
anything that might be dangerous.
If a neutrophil runs into a germ, it can alert the rest of the immune system and a
proper defense can be mounted. Immunologists may ask what signals are needed
to start and stop immune responses.
The adaptive immune system targets specific pathogens. Scientists can study
how a type of cell learns to recognize a specific pathogen, and what functions
that cell has.
B cells are a part of the adaptive immune system that produce proteins called
antibodies. When an antibody first recognizes a germ, it causes the B cell to
copy itself and produce more antibodies. The next time it sees that pathogen, it
can react more quickly and efficiently. Immunologists might ask how the B cell
is able to adjust the amount and type of antibody it produces during an infection.
2. Clinical immunology looks at how the immune system can fail and actually
cause disease, as well as how we can work with it to prevent disease.

3. Autoimmunity and Allergies

What happens when the immune system fails in some way? For example, if the
immune system attacks a person's own body, the result is an autoimmune
disease. Clinical immunologists are trying to figure out what triggers
autoimmune diseases, and how they can be treated.

2
Type I diabetes mellitus is an autoimmune disease in which the immune cells
attack the pancreas. A clinical immunologist wants to know what caused the
immune system to attack the pancreas in the first place.
Allergies are another result of a malfunctioning immune system attacking things
that ordinarily shouldn't be harmful. Take for example, peanuts. Peanuts are not
bacteria or viruses, and cannot make you sick. However, a patient with a peanut
allergy has an immune system that attacks the peanut proteins. This can cause
very severe symptoms in some people. Allergists try to explain how allergies
develop, and how they can be brought under control.

4. Transplants and Vaccines

When you think of someone needing a new heart or liver, you might not think of
their immune system. However, because the immune system may try to destroy
the foreign organs, transplant scientists must work to decrease the immune
response.
Vaccine is a drug that uses a bacterial or viral antigen, (e.g. a germ, bacterium
or virus), which might be already killed, generally with great heat, or may be
living but attenuated.
History of Immunology & Timeline

The concept of immunity from disease can be traced back

at least to Greece in the 5th century. During this time, Thucydides
5th observed and wrote about individuals who recovered from the plague,
Century which was raging in Athens.
10th Century: the ancient Chinese practiced a form of immunization by
inhaling dried powders derived from the crusts of smallpox lesions.

16th Century

Italian physician Girolamo Fracastoro proposed the theory of

contagious diseases as published in his book entitled On Contagion and
Contagious Diseases.

3
17th Century Variolation was performed either by putting the obtained material
under the skin, or, more often, inserting powdered scabs from smallpox pustules
into the nose.

18th Century

Smallpox inoculation in Ottoman Empire realized by West. Lady

Mary Wortley Montagu, the wife of the British ambassador to Constantinople,
observed the positive effects of variolation on the native population and had the
technique performed on her own children.

19th Century

Theodore Schwann, a German physiologist first came up with

physio-chemical explanation of life and provided the explanation of yeast
multiplication in fermentation.

Ernst Haeckel was a German biologist explained that in an

organism’s immune system, phagocytosis process occurs where certain foreign
microorganisms (such as amoeba) attach to the cell surface either to destroy it or
feed on it.

Aseptic practice in surgery using carbolic acid was invented by

Joseph Lister. This method has greatly improved surgical practice specially in
reducing infections and complications as a result of contaminations.

4
 Robert Koch, German microbiologist published the work on
anthrax.

Paul Ehrlich, a German physician demonstrated that mast cells (a

type of white blood cells) are an essential part of the immune and neuroimmune
systems.

The germ theory of disease was finally postulated by Louis Pasteur.

This theory confirmed that some diseases are indeed caused by micro-organisms.

20th Century

Paul Ehrlich came up with antibody formation theory which states that
1900 a specific kind of cell can induce the formation of several antibodies.

In this year, Karl Landsteiner discovered the 3 different blood type

groups: A, B, and O. He also discovered that when mixed, blood of
1901 different blood type groups will begin to agglutinate (clump together).

Immediate hypersensitivity anaphylaxis, or more commonly known as

“allergies”, was by observed by the two scientists Charles Richet and
Paul Portier. The two observed that people when exposed to allergens
(things that trigger the allergy), are likely to develop the immune
1902 reaction.

1922 Alexander Fleming discovered Lysozyme (an enzyme that catalyzes

5
 the destruction of the cell walls of certain bacteria).

In this year, Hermann Muller discovered that x-rays actually cause

1927 mutagenesis in Drosophila.

Alexander Fleming discovered the antibiotic properties of Penicillium

1928 notatum fungi accidentally in his lab.

John Marrack proposed the antigen-antibody binding hypothesis

which states that under favorable and right conditions, antigens and
1938 antibodies bind together.

Previously discovered in Rhesus monkeys (hence the name), Rh

antigens were discovered by Karl Landsteiner and Alexander
Weiner. Such antigens are found in the surface of red blood corpuscles
1940 and affect the reactions of the blood groups.

George Snell and Peter Gorer identified the major histocompatibility

complex (MHC) in mice. Basically, it is the set of all surface proteins
that are needed by the vertebrate immune system to detect foreign
molecules and pathogens, which eventually determines their
1946 histocompatibility.

The clonal selection theory was finally validated by Sir McFarland

1958 Burnet and Neils Jerne.

Jean Dausset and his colleagues discovered human leukocyte antigen

1958 (HLA). Such antigen is responsible in the body’s response to foreign
– substances. HLA is used to determine matches between donors and
1962 recipients for bone marrows.

1961- In this year, Jacques Miller discovered the function of the thymus in
1962 immunity. As an organ, it is involved in the production of different

6
 types of white blood cells such as T cells or T-lymphocytes.

The Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was invented by

Peter Perlmann and Eva Engyall. This type of assay is used to detect
the presence or absence of an antigen or antibody in a sample. (Enzyme
1971 Immunoassay (EIA)/Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA)).

The first licensed anti-parasite vaccine for malaria was approved for use
2015 in Europe.

In this year, scientist Matthew Halpert characterized the roles of

dendritic cells in the processing and presenting antigens to the T cells of
the immune system. (Baylor scientists ID dendritic cells as new cancer
2016 therapy targets)