Essential immunology [antikvár]

PREFACE As one writes new editions of a bool<, one tends to fit the new advances into the overall structure of the first edition, not wishing to 'savage' the baby too severely. However, in the 17 years since the first edition appeared, my broad perception of the field has changed so much that an utterly radical reshaping of the book's structure now seemed inescapable. Thus, in many aspects this may be looked upon as a new book. From the physiological standpoint, immunological systems evolved to provide protection against infection and it is logical therefore to begin with an account of the principal mechanisms which constitute the phylogenetically earlier innate immune system, phagocytosis, complement and other soluble microbicidal factors, and non-specific killer cells. The second chapter then shows how this innate immune system can be unbelievably improved by the operation of an adaptive or acquired system based upon lymphocytes. We note also that this sytem may occasionally produce unwanted effects and give rise to immunopathology. Thus, the first two chapters provide a general overview of the subject. Another major decision was to treat B- and T-cell activities in parallel. Thus, Chapter 3, which is concerned with molecules involved in the recognition of antigen, includes not only immunoglobulins, but also the T-cell receptor and perforce the major histocompatibility complex; this also seemed the right place to discuss the generation of diversity in receptors. Chapter 4 deals with the nature of the primary antigen recognition process with an extended discussion of what the T-cell 'sees'. The detection of this recognition process and the technical applications to which this gives rise are covered in the following chapter. The next four chapters deal with the acquired immune response as a consequence of antigen recognition. Chapter 6 discusses the early activation of lymphocytes and the anatomy of the lymphoid system where this occurs, while Chapter 7 goes on to cover the production of effectors — maturation to antibody-forming cells, monoclonal antibodies, T-cell lymphokines affecting B-cell and macrophage responses, and cytotoxic T-cells — all involving considerable updating. The next chapter looks at control of the acquired response by antibody, T-cells and idiotype networks and extends the discussion to networks linking the neurological and endocrine systems. A far more expanded account of the ontogeny of B- and T-cells is given in Chapter 9 and a large new section on lymphoproliferative disorders arising as unregulated developments of lymphoid cells is now included; finally, a discussion of phylogeny draws attention to the large family of recognition molecules based on the immunoglobulin domain ancestral gene. Immunity to infection in Chapter 10 is examined from the point of view of the adversarial strategies of host and microbe engaged in unremitting warfare. Newer approaches to vaccines based on recombinant DNA technology, synthetic peptides and anti-idiotypes are looked at in Chapter 11, with the