Enclonar, Kimberly / MLS 3A
Variolation
Introduction to Immunology &
Serology
January 19, 2021
Lean Kristin Ugdang, RMT
Immunology
• The study of host's REACTION to foreign substances
(antigens) and RESISTANCE to diseases and infections
• Cells, tissues, molecules that mediate resistance to
infection
• Medically related consequences when the immune
system:
o Fails to respond or
o Responds in an exaggerated form
• Primary role - surveillance and destruction of
substances that are foreign (non-self) to the body
• Divided in two (2) categories:
o Innate immunity (rapid response) - nonspecific;
needed to activate adaptive immunity
▪ Macrophage
▪ NK cells
▪ WBCs
▪ Dendritic cells
▪ T cell and NKT cell
o Adaptive immunity (slow immunity) - specific
▪ T cell and NKT cell
▪ B cell → Antibodies
▪ T cell → CD4 & CD8
Serology
• Analytical procedures performed in the laboratory
using blood samples particularly serum to look into
the components of the immune response
• It focuses on:
o Identifying antibodies
o Identifying antigens
o Investigate problems with the immune system
o Determine organ, tissue, or fluid (blood)
compatibility
Historical Perspectives
"Immunity"
• Derived from the Latin word, "immunis", which
originally means exemption from military service and
tax payments
• Thucidydes
o A Greek Historian and General
o First to observe immunity
o Believed to have written the first description of
immunity when plaque hit Athens
o "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
• Smallpox - caused by Variola major & Variola minor
o Characterized by blisters
• 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
• Pioneered by the Chinese in the 10th century
• Considered as the 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 in the nose
• Goal - to induce a mild, but protective infection
• Downside - inoculum is not standardized, it often
resulted to disfigurement or death from smallpox
infection
• The practice was brought to Europe (England)
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 vaccine for smallpox
• Benjamin Jetsy
o An English farmer notable for his early
experiment in inducing immunity against
smallpox using cowpox in 1774.
o He inoculated his wife with lesion from cowpox
caused by Vaccinia virus.
• Edward Jenner
o An English Physician, inoculated James Phipps
(8) with a material from cowpox lesion obtained
from the hand of a milkmaid (Sarah Nelmes)
▪ James developed mild infection of cowpox
▪ Weeks after he recovered, he was injected
by Jenner with lesion from smallpox - No
disease developed
o Cross immunity - was also demonstrated in his
experiment
Attenuation of Vaccines
• Louis Pasteur
o "Vacca" (latin) which means "cow" - vaccination
o A French biologist and the "Father of
Immunology" discovered attenuation or
"weakening" of virulence factors of
microorganisms used for vaccination
o Performed experiments using
▪ Chicken cholera (first discovered through
an unintended laboratory incident)
▪ Rabies - using infected dogs spinal cords
(Joseph Meister)
Cellular Immunity
• Ellie Metchnikoff
o A Russian Zoologist, the Father of Natural
Immunity
o Discovered phagocytosis
o Demonstrated the process by inserting small
splinters into starfish larvae, then found unusual
cells (amoeboid movement) surrounding the
splinters
Humoral Immunity
• Emil Adolph von Behring & Kitasato Shibasaburo
o Showed that injections of serum from an animal
with tetanus could confer immunity of the
disease to the recipient animal
o Demonstrated transfer of immunity of
diphtheria by a soluble anti-toxin present in the
blood of infected persons
 Enclonar, Kimberly / MLS 3A
• Paul Ehrlich
o German Physician
o Predicted the existence of antibodies

Linking Cellular and Humoral Immunity

• Almoth Wright
o British bacteriologist and immunologist
o Observed that opsonins coat bacteria so that
they become susceptible to ingestion by
phagocytic cells

Year Scientist Research

1901 Emil von Behring Serum Antitoxins
1903 Almoth Wright Theory of Cellular and
Humoral Immunity
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 Immunologic Tolerance
Peter Medawar
1972 Gerald Edelman Structure of antibodies
Rodney Porter
1977 Rosalyn Yallow Radioimmunoassay
1980 George Snell Major Histocompatibility
Jean Dausset Complex
Baruj Benaceraf
1984 Niels Jerne Immunoregulation
Georges Koehler Monoclonal antibody
Cesar Milstein
1987 Susumu Tonegawa Antibody diversity
1991 E.Donnall Thomas Transplantation
Joseph Murray
1996 Peter Doherty Cytotoxic T cell - Recognition
Rolf Zinkermagel of virally infected cells