Immunology

prepared by
Semaa.H.Shalal
phD.Microbiology
Immunology

is a branch of medical science that study of

structure and function of the immune system in
all organisms.
Indirect protection against infectious diseases
is IMMUNITY
Immunity :

is the ability of an organism to resist a particular disease

especially through preventing development of a pathogenic
microorganism or by
counteracting the effects of its products by the action of
specific antibodies or sensitized cells.
Classical immunology:
is the study the relationship between the body systems, pathogens and
immunity. ties in with the fields of epidemiology and medicine.
Clinical immunology
is the study of diseases caused by disorders of the immune system
(failure, aberrant action, and malignant growth of the cellular
elements of the system). It also involves diseases of other systems,
where immune reactions play a part in the pathology and clinical
features.
Developmental immunology
The field of developmental immunology is devoted to exploring and gaining an
understanding of the multitude of factors that are responsible for the development
of the human immune system. It looks at how immune cells are established and
how they interact with foreign cells and antigens.

This branch of science is vital to furthering our knowledge of how allergies and
autoimmune disorders develop and offer an approach to creating new preventative,
diagnostic, and therapeutic methods.
Immunotherapy :
the use of immune system components to treat a disease or disorder is
known as immunotherapy. Immunotherapy is most commonly used in
the context of the treatment of cancers together with chemotherapy
(drugs) and radiotherapy (radiation). However, immunotherapy is also
often used in the immunosuppressed (such as HIV patients) and
people suffering from other immune deficiencies or autoimmune
diseases.
Diagnostic immunology:
is a diagnostic methods that relies on antigen-antibody reaction for detection of
the disease. They have high specificity and sensitivity which all depends on the
value of antibody detection.
the specificity of the bond between antibody and antigen has made it an excellent
tool in the detection of substances in a variety of diagnostic techniques.
Antibodies specific for a desired antigen can be conjugated with an isotopic
(radio) or fluorescent label or with a color-forming enzyme in order to detect it.
However, the similarity between some antigens can lead to false positives and
other errors in such tests by antibodies cross-reacting with antigens that aren't
exact matches.
Cancer immunology:
is the study of the interaction of the immune system with cancer cells
which can lead to diagnostic tests and therapies with which to find
and fight cancer.
Immunotoxicology

This is the branch of immunology that deals with the effect or

impact of toxins on the immune system. This branch looks at how
cells are affected by chemicals (toxins), and how the immune
system responds to these invasive chemicals.
➢ Immunity refers to protection against infection.
➢ The immune system is the collection of cells, tissues and molecules that functions to defend
us against infectious microbes.
➢ The coordinated reaction of the immune system against infections (and other foreign
substances) is known as the immune response.
➢ Abnormalities of the immune system that result in defective immune responses make
individuals susceptible to infections by viruses, bacteria, fungi and parasites.
➢ However, immune responses are also capable of causing damage. Many common diseases
are caused by uncontrolled or excessive immune responses (examples include rheumatic
fever, asthma and glomerulonephritis; inflammatory bowel disease and autoimmune
thyroiditis and multiple sclerosis).
Innate immunity, or nonspecific immunity, is the natural
resistances with which a person is born. It provides
resistances through physical, chemical , biological and
cellular approaches.

Main features:
1. It’s present from the moment of birth.
2. It can react with variety of organisms.
3. It’s rapidly and immediately in response.
4. It does not have any immunological memory.
Innate Immunity Barriers to Infect
1- Physical/anatomic barriers
• Skin: effective if intact
• Mucus traps pathogens. Respiratory, gastrointestinal, and
genitourinary tracts:
• mucosal cell layer continuous with skin.
• Blood clotting - post injury
2- Physiological/chemical
defenses present in body cavities and fluids.
• tearing, coughing, sneezing, vomiting
• low pH in skin , fatty acids, hydrolytic enzymes,anti-microbial
peptides
• acidic secretions, degradative enzymes,
• plasma soluble proteins such as (1)the complement system,
(2)cytokines, (3)acute phase proteins and (4)coagulation system.
3-Biological barriers such as normal flora .
4- Cellular barriers (Killing of pathogens & infected cells)
Cellular components of innate immunity system :
• polymorphonuclear granulocytes (PMN)
• mast cells
• platelets (thrombocytes)
• endothelial cells
• macrophages and dendritic cells
• natural killer cells
 Acquired immunity (Adaptive immunity)
Acquired immunity is immune response created after an
interaction of lymphocytes with particular foreign substances
which are recognized specifically by those lymphocytes.
This recognition process triggers proliferation and maturation of the
lymphocytes which in the case of B lymphocyte results in the secretion
of antibodies and the “memorizing” of that particular agent in a
process called the primary immune response.
On0 the second contact with the same agent the magnitude of the
response is increased as a result of the more rapid and more abundant
production of specific antibodies: a process called secondary immune
response.
The acquired immune response is a more highly developed than the
innate immune system. It includes not only humoral immunity but also
cellular immunity.
Features of adaptive immunity
The adaptive immune response is characterized by:
1- Specificity: The ability to discriminate between different antigenic
epitopes, and respond only to those that necessitate a response rather
than making a random response.
2- Memory: The ability to recall (remember) previous contact with a
particular antigen, such that subsequent exposure leads to a more rapid
and larger immune response.
3- Adaptiveness: The ability to respond to previously unseen antigens,
which may never have existed before on earth.

4- Discrimination between “self” and “nonself”: The ability to

respond to those antigens that are not “self” and to avoid making
responses to those antigens that are part of “self”.
Attribute Innate immunity Adaptive immunity
Response time Minutes/hours Days
Specificity Absence specific response Highly specific response

Memory Absence Present

Self/non-self Perfect when no microbe -Very good
discrimination specific patterns in host -Occasional failures of
self/non-self-discriminations result
in autoimmune diseases.

Soluble component of Many antimicrobial Antibodies and cytokines

blood (humeral response) Peptides, proteins and other mediators.

Major cell types -Phagocyte: Lymphocyte

• Monocyte cell • T cell
• macrophage cell • B cell
• neutrophil cell
• dendritic cell
-Natural killer
Acquired immunity can be active or passive.
1.Active immunity
The stimulation of the immune system to produce antibodies against a particular infectious
agent.
Active immunization results from the development of antibodies in
response to an antigen, as from exposure to an
infectious disease or through vaccination.
Active immunization types
i. Naturally acquired active immunity: is immunity that comes from infections
encountered in daily life.
ii. Artificially acquired active immunity: It is stimulated by initial exposure to specific
foreign macromolecules through the use of vaccines to artificially establish a state of
immunity.
2- Passive immunity is developed by antibodies that are produced
outside and then introduced into the body.

Passive immunity is acquired when antibodies are introduced into

the body from an external source to provide a quick response to the
infection.
Passive immunity results from the transmission of antibodies
, as from mother to fetus through the placenta or by the injection
of antiserum
Passive immunity types
i. Naturally acquired passive immunity: refers to antibodies that
transferred from mother to fetus across the placenta and to newborn in
colostrum and breast milk during the first few months of life.
ii. Artificially acquired passive immunity: is transferred of antibodies
that are
to an individual to prevent or treat infection. formed by an animal or a
human
Immunization
What is Active Immunization?
•Active Immunization is the process whereby a person naturally
acquires or is induced to acquire immunity or resistance to an
infectious disease.

•In active immunization, the immune system is stimulated to produce

antibodies against a particular infectious agent and thus the immune
system of the individual is actively involved in the process.

•It may arise naturally, such as when an individual is exposed to an

antigen or pathogen.
For example, an individual who recovers from a first case of the measles is
protective to further infection by the measles-causing virus, because the virus
stimulates the immune system to produce antibodies that specifically recognize
and neutralize the pathogen the next time it is encountered.

•However, active immunization also can be conferred artificially by means of

vaccines. Vaccines consist of a nontoxic antigen preparation that infers protective
immunity by inducing a memory response to an infectious microorganism.

•This results in immunity which may either be antibody mediated immunity and/or
cellular mediated immunity.
•Vaccines consist of microbial products with adjuvant which do not cause
infection under normal conditions but rather provide a long term immunological
protection against the specific microbe.

•Depending upon the type of disease, a vaccine may contain live attenuated ,
killed microorganisms , parts or products from them capable of stimulating a
specific immune response comprised of protective antibodies and T cell
immunity.

•The purpose of vaccination is to ensure that a large enough number of antibodies

and lymphocytes capable of reacting against a specific pathogen or toxin are
available before exposure to this pathogen.
 Passive immunization
Passive immunization involves giving antibodies to an organism
or to a toxin produced by an organism.

Passive immunization is provided in the following

circumstances:
•When people cannot synthesize antibody.
•When people have been exposed to a disease that they are
not immune to or that is likely to cause complications.
•When people have a disease and the effects of the toxin must
be ameliorated.

Passive immunization does not induce natural immunity.

Human immune globulin (IG)
IG is a concentrated antibody-containing solution prepared from
plasma obtained from normal donors. It consists primarily of IgG,
although trace amounts of IgA, IgM, and other serum proteins may be
present.
IG very rarely contains transmissible viruses (eg, hepatitis B or C, HIV)
and is stable for many months if stored at 4° C.
Half-life of IG in the circulation is about 3 weeks.
IG may be used for prophylaxis in people exposed to or at risk of
•Hepatitis A
•Measles
•Immunoglobulin deficiency
•Varicella (in immunocompromised patients when varicella-zoster IG is
unavailable)
•Rubella exposure during the first trimester of pregnancy
Disadvantages

IG provides only temporary protection; the antibody content against

specific agents varies by as much as 10-fold among preparations.

Administration is painful, and anaphylaxis can occur.

IG types

Intravenous immune globulin (IVIG)

Intramuscular immune globulin (IMIG)
Subcutaneous immune globulin (SCIG)
While passive immunity is short-lived, it works right away, and hence it is preferred
over active immunity in children or immunocompromised adults who are at high
risk. For example, if a child suffers wild animal bites, passive rabies immunization
is commonly administered.

For people travelling to any country affected by hepatitis, doctors recommend

passive vaccination to prevent it.This immunization is usually given on the day of
their journey to cover their travel time.

Passive antibody treatment is also done to prevent disease after a high-risk person is
exposed to pathogens like tetanus, measles, syncytial virus, rabies, chickenpox,
hepatitis A, , hepatitis B and covid 19 virus .
Advantages of Passive Immunization
1.Passive immunization acts quicker, producing an immune
response within hours or days of the administration, unlike
vaccines, which take weeks or months to produce protective
immunity.
2.Passive immunization also can override a deficient immune
system, which is very helpful to persons that do not respond to
vaccine immunizations.
Disadvantages of Passive Immunization
1.Antibodies are costly to produce, however, new technologies can
help produce them in the laboratory especially antibodies to infectious
diseases that must be harvested from the blood of thousands of
donors or even obtained from the blood of immune animals like those
produced to neutralize snake venoms.
2.Antibodies from animals can cause serious allergic reactions in the
recipient.
3.Antibodies must be administered via intravenous injection, which
can be a complicated procedure and more time-consuming that the
injection of a vaccine.
4.The immunity conferred by passive immunization is short-lived i.e it
does not lead to the formation of long-lasting memory immune cells.