Chap 16 Part 1

Introduction

 Immunology
 The scientific study of the immune system and immune responses
 Immunologists
 Scientists who study various aspects of the immune system
 Antigens
 Molecules hat stimulate a person’s immune system to produce antibodies
 Antibodies
 Proteins produced by the immune system in response to antigens

Origins of Immunology

 Edward Jenner’s smallpox vaccine (first administered in 1796)

 Louis Pasteur’s vaccines against anthrax, cholera, and rabies (developed in the late 1800s)
 Emil Behring and Kitasato Shibasaburo discovered antibodies while developing a diphtheria
antitoxin
 At about the same time, Elie Metchnikoff discovered phagocytes and introduced the cellular
theory of immunity

Primary Functions Of The Immune System

 The primary functions of the immune system are to:

 Differentiate between “self” and “non-self” (something foreign)
 Destroy that which is non-self
 Immune responses involve complex interactions among many different types of body cells and
cellular secretions

Immunity

 Immunity - condition of being immune to certain diseases

 Humans are immune to certain infectious diseases simply because they are humans
 Cells do not possess the appropriate cell surface receptors for some of the pathogens

Types of Immunity

Acquired Immunity

 Immunity that results from the active production or receipt of protective antibodies during one’s
lifetime

Active Acquired Immunity

 The antibodies are produced within the person’s body

 Protection is usually long lasting
 2 Types of Active Acquired
 Natural
 Person encounters an infection and develops an antibody for it
 May be permanent, lasting for a person's entire lifetime, or it may be temporary
 Protective antibodies
 Artificial
 Vaccines
 Administration of a vaccine stimulates a person’s immune system to produce specific
protective antibodies—antibodies that will protect the person should he or she become
colonized with that particular pathogen in the future
 Vaccine
 Material that can artificially induce immunity to an infectious disease
 After injection
 Ingestion of the material (e.g., oral polio vaccine)
 A person is deliberately exposed to a harmless version of a pathogen (or toxin), which will
stimulate that person’s immune system to produce protective antibodies and memory cells
(described later in the chapter), but will not cause disease in that person
 An ideal vaccine is one that:
 Contains enough antigenic determinants to stimulate the immune system to produce protective
antibodies
 Contains antigenic determinants from all the strains of the pathogen that cause that disease
(e.g., the three strains of virus that cause polio); such vaccines are referred to as multivalent or
polyvalent vaccines
 Has few (preferably, no) side effects
 Does not cause disease in the vaccinated person

Types of Available Vaccines

 Attenuated vaccines
 The process of weakening pathogens is called attenuation, and the vaccines are referred to as
attenuated vaccines
 Most live vaccines are avirulent (nonpathogenic) mutant strains of pathogens that have been
derived from the virulent (pathogenic) organisms; this is accomplished by growing them for
many generations under various conditions or by exposing them to mutagenic chemicals or
radiation
 Attenuated vaccines should not be administered to immunosuppressed individuals, because
even weakened pathogens could cause disease in these persons
 Ex. Attenuated viral vaccines
 adenovirus, chicken pox (varicella), measles (rubeola), mumps, German measles (rubella),
polio (oral Sabin vaccine), rotavirus, smallpox, yellow fever
 Ex. Attenuated bacterial vaccines
 BCG (for protection against tuberculosis), cholera, tularemia, typhoid fever (oral vaccine)
 Inactivated vaccines
 Vaccines made from pathogens that have been killed by heat or chemicals—called inactivated
vaccines—can be produced faster and more easily, but they are less effective than live vaccines.
 This is because the antigens on the dead cells are usually less effective and produce a shorter
period of immunity.
 Ex. Inactivated viruses or viral antigens
 Hepatitis A, influenza, Japanese encephalitis, other (EEE, WEE, Russian) encephalitis
vaccines, polio (subcutaneous Salk vaccine), rabies
 Ex. Inactivated bacterial vaccines
 Anthrax, typhoid fever (subcutaneous vaccine), Q fever
 Subunit vaccines
 A subunit vaccine (or acellular vaccine) is one that uses antigenic (antibody-stimulating) portions
of a pathogen, rather than using the whole pathogen.
 For example, a vaccine containing pili of Neisseria gonorrhoeae could theoretically stimulate the
body to produce antibodies that would attach to N. gonorrhoeae pili, thus preventing the
bacteria from adhering to cells.
 If N. gonorrhea cannot adhere to cells that line the urethra, they cannot cause urethritis.
 The material that is used to protect healthcare workers and others from hepatitis caused by
hepatitis B virus (HBV) is being produced by genetically engineered yeasts.
 The genes that code for hepatitis B surface protein were introduced into yeast cells, which then
produced large quantities of that protein.
 The proteins are then injected into people.
 Antibodies against the protein are produced in their bodies, and these antibodies serve to
protect the people from HBV hepatitis.
 Ex. Hepatitis B, Lyme disease, whooping cough
 Conjugate vaccines
 Successful conjugate vaccines have been made by conjugating bacterial capsular antigens
(which by themselves are not very antigenic) to molecules that stimulate the immune to
produce antibodies against the less antigenic capsular antigens.
 Ex. Hib (for protection against Haemophilus influenzae type b), meningococcal meningitis
system (Neisseria meningitidis serogroup C), pneumococcal pneumonia
 Toxoid vaccines
 A toxoid is an exotoxin that has been inactivated (made nontoxic) by heat or chemicals.
 Toxoids can be injected safely to stimulate the production of antibodies that are capable of
neutralizing the exotoxins of pathogens, such as those that cause tetanus, botulism, and
diphtheria
 Antibodies that neutralize toxins are called antitoxins, and a serum containing such antitoxins is
referred to as an antiserum
 Ex. Diphtheria, tetanus. Commercial antisera containing antitoxins are used to treat diseases
such as tetanus and botulism. Such antisera are also used in certain types of laboratory tests,
known as immunodiagnostic procedures
 DNA vaccines.
 Currently, DNA vaccines or gene vaccines are only experimental.
 A particular gene from a pathogen is inserted into plasmids, and the plasmids are then injected
into skin or muscle tissue
 Inside host cells, the genes direct the synthesis of a particular microbial protein (antigen)
 Once the cells start churning out copies of the protein, the body then produces antibodies
directed against the protein, and these antibodies protect the person from infection with the
pathogen
 Ex. Laboratory animals have been successfully protected using this technique, and reports of the
induction of cellular immune responses in humans to a malarial parasite antigen, using DNA
vaccines, have been published
 Autogenous vaccines
 An autogenous vaccine is one that has been prepared from bacteria isolated from a localized
infection, such as a staphylococcal boil
 The pathogens are killed and then injected into the same person to induce production of more
antibodies

Passive Acquired Immunity

 A person receives antibodies that were produced by another person or, in some cases, by an animal
 The immunity is temporary, lasting only about 3 to 6 weeks
 May be transferred naturally or artificially

 Natural Passive Acquired Immunity

 Small antibodies (like immunoglobulin G [IgG], which is described later in this chapter) present
in the mother’s blood cross the placenta to reach the fetus while it is in the uterus (in utero)
 Also, colostrum, the thin, milky fluid secreted by mammary glands a few days before and after
delivery, contains maternal antibodies to protect the infant during the first months of life
 Artificial Passive Acquired Immunity
 Transferring antibodies from an immune person to a susceptible person
 The patient is given human gamma globulin or “pooled” immune serum globulin (ISG); that is,
antibodies taken from the blood of many immune people
 The patient receives some antibodies to all of the diseases to which the donors are immune
 ISG may be given to provide temporary protection against measles, mumps, polio, diphtheria,
and hepatitis in people, especially infants, who are not immune and have been exposed to these
diseases
 Examples Of Artificial Passive Acquired Immunity
 Hyperimmune serum globulin (or specific immune globulin)
 Hepatitis B immune globulin (HBIG)
 Tetanus immune globulin (TIG)
 Rabies immune globulin (RIG)
 Chickenpox immune globulin, measles immune globulin, pertussis immune globulin,
poliomyelitis immune globulin, and zoster immune globulin