GJR: IMMUNOLOGY AND SEROLOGY NOTES

TOPIC 1: INTRODUCTION TO IMMUNOLOGY AND SEROLOGY AND ITS harmful substance then immunity develops which led to
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES. resist.
➢ RESISTANCE means it refers to the ability to host to fight
✓ Topic is relatable, simply because we have our immune system
infections or reduces its ability as pathogen through the
weather sick or healthy, our immune system will fight for us.
use of specific antibodies, produce during the host
✓ NOTE: FEVER is not a disease rather than an indication that
primary encounter of pathogen.
there is something wrong among us.
➢ The reason why people who are infected in the past
✓ It is our body mechanism that telling us that something has
with a pathogen example: CHICKEN POX is less likely
invaded in our body.
develop of symptoms if they encountered the 2nd time
OTHER SYNPTOMS: around simply because they have developed resistance
to it however not all the time will develop absolute
✓ Coughing
resistance to infectious agents such as parasitic
✓ Sneezing
infections or there are instances that immunity takes a
✓ Others
very long time.
HARMFUL AGENTS ARE AROUND US ✓ CELLS, TISSUE, MOLECULES that mediate resistance to
infections.
✓ Everyday we are expose of these harmful agents
➢ The reason why the system called immune system its
✓ Through our DAILY ACTIVITES
because it is composed of various components that
✓ The food, water and air we breathe are not sterile, we consume
work interdependent with each other like orchestra.
microorganisms that are there as well as the harmful toxin
➢ Same with the orchestra, the immune system
substances.
components do not function all at once, they are
WHAT IS IMMUNOLOGY? components that function first, they are those that
function later. However, despite that all of the
✓ Host’s REACTION to foreign substances and RESISTANCE to
components of resistance must function in coordinated
disease and infection.
manner in order to achieve immunity and resistance.
➢ It refers that how the human body is reacted to the
➢ All components are important, the absence of one or
presence of infection agents and harmful substances.
defect one or components of resistance can potentially
➢ It also refers processes undertakes toward of or
affect the whole EXAMPLE: PHAGOCYTOSIS defective
eliminated the infectious agents or the harmful
then it can affect the ability of our B cells to produce
substances that invaded to that host and when the
antibodies.
immune system successfully eliminate the infection or
GJR: IMMUNOLOGY AND SEROLOGY NOTES

➢ All components of resistance must be intact and ✓ PRIMARY ROLE – Surveillance and Destruction of substances
functional in order to have an over all and functional that are foreign to the body.
immune system. ➢ Why surveillance? Its because our immunity system do
➢ CELLS: not attack in Lesly or in discriminately.
• Phagocytes: ➢ Our immune system has the capacity to recognized self
▪ Neutrophil, from foreign.
▪ dendritic cells, ➢ Self refers to components that are normally found in the
▪ Anti-histamine, body such us normal proteins, cells and etc.
▪ Histamine: producing cells such as Mast ➢ Foreign or non-self refers to substances which are not
cells and basophils normally found within such as bacteria, viruses, harmful
▪ Cells in adaptive immunity: B cells and T toxins and etc.
cells. ✓ IMMUNE SYSTEM DEVIDED INTO TWO CATEGORIES
➢ TISSUES: ➢ INNATE IMMUNITY (NATURAL OR NON-SPECIFIC
▪ Bone marrow: in which blood cells such as WBC IMMUNITY)
are produced ➢ ADAPTIVE IMMUNITY (AQUAIRED SPECIFIC IMMUNITY)
▪ Thymus: T cells are developed
▪ Secondary lymphoid organs such as: Spleen and
Lymph nodes
➢ MOLECULES:
▪ Non cellular in nature
▪ Soluble chemical substances such as antibodies,
cytokines and inflammatory mediators that
circulate in the blood
✓ MEDICALLY related consequences when the immune system:
▪ FAILS to respond or
▪ RESPONDS in a EXAGERRATED FORM
➢ Failure of the immune system to respond may indicate
upon possibly immunodeficiency disease.
✓ Innate and Adaptive are inter components of immune system,
➢ Exaggerated response may indicate a possible a
means that both must be present and functional otherwise a
hypersensitivity.
defect in innate or adaptive immunity would really impair the
host’s immune response.
GJR: IMMUNOLOGY AND SEROLOGY NOTES
✓ Innate immunity is needed to activate the adaptive immune
system.
✓ Innate is rapid and non-specific response meaning it can react
to all antigens.
✓ Adaptive is slow but specific response which means that it
should be molded or trained in order to produce a specific
immune response to certain antigen EXAMPLE: A person is
infected by COVID-19, the components of innate immunity
such as macrophages and dendritic cells respond rapidly to it
and facilitate the exposure of COVID antigens to components of
adaptive immunity such as B cells and T cells, this cells will be
trained to responds to the antigens of COVID 19 and therefore,
will produce a specific immune response to COVID 19 only, this
means also that specific immunity that produce by the host of
COVID-19, only protects him or her against COVID-19 and not
to other infectious agents.
WHAT IS SEROLOGY?
✓ Refers to the analytical procedures performed in the
laboratory using blood samples particularly serum to look into
the components of the immune response.
➢ Which can be use for detection of diseases or Harmful
substances or for the diagnosis of immunologic disorder such
as autoimmune disease.
✓ IT FOCUSES ON:
▪ Identifying antibodies
▪ Identifying antigens
▪ Investigate problems with the immune system
▪ Determine organ, tissue, or fluid (blood) compatibility
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES
✓ IMMUNITY
➢ derived from the Latin Word, ‘Immunis” which originally
means, exemption from military service, tax payments
✓ THUCIDYDES
➢ A Greek Historian and General
➢ Believed to have written the first description of immunity when
plague hit Athens
"the sick and the dying were tended by the pitying care of those who
had recovered, because they knew the course of the disease and were
themselves free from apprehensions. For no one was ever attacked a
second time, or not with a fatal result".
Contribution of Smallpox infection in the development of
Immunology
✓ SMALLPOX
➢ caused by Variola major & Variola minor
➢ Last naturally occurring case occurred in October 1977
➢ WHO certified the eradication of the disease in 1980
➢ Paved the way for a scientific breakthrough in
immunology which is: VACCINATION
But before VACCINATION, there was VARIOLATION
✓ Pioneered by the Chinese in the 10th Century
✓ Considered as an earliest attempt to induce immunity
✓ Healthy people were exposed from a material obtained from
the smallpox lesion by inoculating it under the skin or inserting
powdered scabs from smallpox pustules into the nose
✓ Goal – to induce a mild, but protective infection
GJR: IMMUNOLOGY AND SEROLOGY NOTES
✓ Downside- inoculum is not standardized, it often resulted to
disfigurement or death from smallpox infection
✓ The practice was brought to Europe through the effort of Lady
Mary Wortley Montague
✓ Series of experiments were conducted among condemned
prisoners to establish the safety of the procedure
✓ It was widely accepted in Europe and the American continent
Development of the first safe vaccine for smallpox
✓ Benjamin Jetsy
➢ An English farmer notable for his early experiment in
inducing immunity against smallpox using cowpox in
1774. He inoculated his wife with lesion from cowpox
caused by Vaccinia virus
✓ Edward Jenner
➢ An English Physician, inoculated James Phipps, an 8-
year-old boy with a material from cowpox lesion
obtained from the hand of a milkmaid
➢ James developed mild infection of cowpox
➢ Weeks after he recovered, he was injected by Jenner
with lesion from smallpox – No disease developed
✓ Cross Immunity – was also demonstrated in his experiment.
Attenuation of Vaccines
✓ Louis Pasteur
➢A French Biologist and the “Father of Immunology”
discovered attenuation or “weakening” of virulence
factors of microorganisms used for vaccination.
➢ Performed experiments using:
• Chicken cholera (first discovered through an
unintended laboratory incident)
• Rabies – using infected dogs spinal cords
Cellular versus Humoral Immunity
✓ Elie Metchnikoff
➢ A Russian Zoologist, the Father of Natural Immunity,
discovered phagocytosis
➢ Demonstrated the process by inserting small splinters
into starfish larvae, then found unusual cells
surrounding the splinters
Cellular versus Humoral Immunity
✓ Emil Adolph von Behring & Kitasato Shibasaburo
➢ Showed that injections of serum from an animal with
tetanus could confer immunity of the disease to the
recipient animal
➢ Demonstrated transfer of immunity of diphtheria by a
soluble anti-toxin present in the blood of infected
persons
GJR: IMMUNOLOGY AND SEROLOGY NOTES

✓ Paul Ehrlich Other Significant Milestones

➢ German Physician, predicted the existence of antibodies YEAR SCIENTIST RESEARCH
1901 Emil von Behring Serum Antitoxins
1905 Robert Koch Cellular Immunity in
TB
1908 Ellie Metchnikoff Phagocytosis
1908 Paul Ehrlich Immunity
1913 Charles Richet Anaphylaxis
1919 Jules Bordet Complement
1930 Karl Landsteiner Human Blood Group
Ags
1960 Macfarlane Burnet, Peter Immunologic
Medawar Tolerance
Linking Cellular and Humoral Immunity 1972 Gerald Edelman, Rodney Porter Structure of
Antibodies
✓ Almoth Wright 1977 Rosalyn Yallow Radioimmunosay
➢ British bacteriologist and immunologist, observed that 1980 George Snell, Jean Dausset Baruj Major
Benaceraf Histocompatibility
opsonins coat bacteria so that they become susceptible
Complex
to ingestion by phagocytic cells
1984 Niels Jerne. Georges Koehler Immunoregulation
Cesar Milstein Monoclonal
Antibody
1987 Susumu Tonegawa Antibody Diversity
1991 E.Donnall Thomas , Joseph Transplantation
Murray
1996 Peter Doherty, Rolf Zinkermagel Cytotoxic T cell –
Recognition of virally
infected cells
1903 Almoth Wright Theory of Cellular
and Humoral
Immunity