#22 The Immune System
Thursday - 10:00 a.m. Winter Term 2009 (14 weeks)
Coordinator: Marilyn Slater Co-coordinator: Gloria Burton
Course Description
The immune system stands between us and a world of attackers who would otherwise kill us in short order. What is it and how does it do its job? All multicellular animals exhibit immune responses and mechanisms for discriminating self from non-self. A long history of host-pathogen co-evolution has brought about a variety of diseases and immune strategies.
This S/DG will focus on immunity in mammals and emphasize the human immune response to disease.
How do immune cells distinguish between self and non-self? Complexity and effectiveness are hallmarks of the immune system. It is able to identify and dispatch most pathogens and yet spare our own tissues. It exhibits both innate and adaptive immunity, allowing immune cells to respond immediately to foreign invaders and then follow up the defense with fine-tuned warriors who search out specific pathogens in order to kill and devour them. The fine-tuning is regulated by a complex series of chemical signals. The detailed mechanisms of the immune response are only now becoming understood through state-of-the-art techniques in biochemistry and molecular biology.
Diseases have many causes -- viruses, bacteria, parasites, fungi, mutations, allergens – to name some of the most common. We will study the way in which the immune system fights back in various diseases. Vaccines offer a way to train the immune system to fight disease more effectively. In some cases, the immune system has harmful, even fatal, effects. In autoimmune diseases, such as lupus and multiple sclerosis, immune cells attack the body that gave rise to them. The greatest challenge to organ transplantation is attacks by the recipient’s immune system.
This S/DG will enlighten us and make us ever more grateful for the powerful system that with finesse and efficiency protects us from harm.
Topics
1) Overview and evolution of the immune system
2) The innate Immune system – the first line of immunological defense
3) Antigen presentation – an evolutionary breakthrough
4) The lymphatic system and lymphocyte production (B cells and T cells)
5) Antibodies – how does the immune system produce them and what do they do? What gives rise to such vast antibody diversity from so few genes?
6) Signaling and regulation in immunity – cytokines and receptors
7) Tolerance induction – mechanisms of self vs. non-self recognition
8) Autoimmune diseases (lupus, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis)
9) Vaccination – preventative and therapeutic; memory in immune cells
10) Lymphomas and leukemias
11) Cancer (non-blood cell) and the immune system
12) HIV and AIDS
13) Malaria and other parasitic diseases – how the immune system fights them
14) Mycobacterial diseases (leprosy and tuberculosis) – pathogens in hiding
15) Organ transplants – overcoming rejection by the immune system
Bibliography
Highly Recommended
Sompayrac, Lauren. How the Immune System Works, 3rd Ed. Blackwell, 2008.
Others
Clark, William R. At War Within: The Double-Edged Sword of Immunity. Oxford Univ. Press, 1995.
Clark, William R. In Defense of Self: How the Immune System Really Works. Oxford Univ. Press, 2008.
Nairn, Roderick and Helbert, Matthew. Immunology for Medical Students. Mosby, 2002. [LA Pub Lib 616.02 N158]
Parham, Peter. The Immune System. Garland/Elsevier. (two editions – 2000 & 2004). (Tough going but accurate, comprehensive and well written)
General Web Sites with Immunology Articles:
http://www.nytimes.com/pages/science/index.html The New York Times science section
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?db=books Full text books online in medicine and biology
http://discovermagazine.com/ Discover magazine online – many full text articles
Immunology Web Sites
http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/11thhour/book7/abbrev.html Common abbreviations used by immunologists (very useful for readings!)
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/bv.fcgi?rid=imm.TOC&depth=2 Janeway, Charles et al. Immunobiology, 5th ed. Garland, 2001. Available full-text online immunology text book
Pre-Meeting: Thursday, December 11, 2008, 10:00 a.m. |