Immunology: An Overview

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Immunology An Overview

• Jory P. Weintraub, Ph.D.
• Department of Biology
• UNC Chapel Hill
• jory_at_unc.edu

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What Do These Things Have In Common?

• AIDS
• Leukemia and other cancers
• Arthritis
• Multiple Sclerosis
• Diabetes
• Allergies
• Infectious diseases
• Transplant rejection

They are all associated with a malfunction of
the immune system
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Outline Part 1

• What is Immunology? A definition..
• History of Immunology
• Overview of the immune response
• Cells, tissues and organs of the immune system
• Malfunctions of the immune system

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Outline Part 2

• Review of Part 1
• B cells and humoral immunity
• Antigens and antibody
• T cells and cellular immunity
• Helper T cells
• Cytotoxic T cells
• Tolerance and autoimmunity

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What is Immunology?
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What is Immunology?

• The study of the mechanisms used by the body to
  protect against environmental agents that are
  foreign to the body (challenges).
• From the Latin term immunis, meaning exempt.

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Outline Part 1

• What is Immunology? A definition..
• History of Immunology
• Overview of the immune response
• Cells, tissues and organs of the immune system
• Malfunctions of the immune system

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History of Immunology

• 430 BC - Thucydides (Greece) observes immunity
  to the plague

• 15th Century First attempts at immunization
  (China, Turkey)

• 1798 Edward Jenner (England) used cowpox
  inoculum to immu-nize against smallpox

• 1880 Louis Pasteur (France) immunizes against
  cholera, rabies, anthrax coins term vaccination

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Nobel Prizes for research in Immunology

• Emil von Behring (1901) Serum antitoxins
• Metchnikoff and Ehrlich (1908) Phagocytosis and
  antitoxins
• Karl Landsteiner (1930) Human blood groups
• Macfarlane-Burnet and Medawar (1960) Tolerance
• Porter and Edelman (1972) Antibody structure
• Milstein and Kohler (1984) Monoclonal
  antibodies
• Susumu Tonegawa (1987) Gene rearrangement
• Thomas and Murray (1991) Transplantation
  immunology

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Outline Part 1

• What is Immunology? A definition..
• History of Immunology
• Overview of the immune response
• Cells, tissues and organs of the immune system
• Malfunctions of the immune system

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Overview of the Immune Response

• External
• Skin
• Mucous membranes
• Internal
• Fever
• Inflammation
• Phagocytosis

• Antibody production
• Complement system activation
• Defends primarily against bacteria, bacterial
  toxins and free viruses

• Present only in vertebrates
• Augments innate immunity
• Requires contact with challenge agent
• Characteristics include
• Specificity
• Adaptiveness
• Discrimination between self and non-self
• Memory

• Microbes
• Food
• Chemicals
• Drugs
• Pollen, Animal Hair/Dander
• Transplanted Tissue

• B cell help
• Cytotoxic effects
• Effective against bacterial/viral infected cells,
  fungi, protozoa, helminths, transplanted tissue

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Function of the Immune System
Non-self (foreign)
Self
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The Role of the Immune System

• Distinction between foreign and self
• Recognition of challenge
• Elimination of challenge

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Elimination of Immunologic Challenges
X

• Neutralization (by antibody binding)

Y
X

• Phagocytosis and intracellular digestion

• Cytotoxic reactions and apoptosis (pro-grammed
  cell death)

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Outline Part 1

• What is Immunology? A definition..
• History of Immunology
• Overview of the immune response
• Cells, tissues and organs of the immune system
• Malfunctions of the immune system

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Organs and Tissues of the Immune System
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Cells of the Immune System
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Lymphocyte Subsets
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Outline Part 1

• What is Immunology? A definition..
• History of Immunology
• Overview of the immune response
• Cells, tissues and organs of the immune system
• Malfunctions of the immune system

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Failure of the Immune System
(1) Hypersensitivity
Non-self (foreign)
Self
(2) Immuno- deficiency
(3) Autoimmunity
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Feel like youve taken in too much information
for one day?
See you Tomorrow.