Sompayrac, L: How the Immune System Works

the body where they can be most useful.Lecture 8 Restraining the Immune System, 84The powerful weapons of the immune system must be restrained lest they become overexuberant. In addition, once an invader has been defeated, the immune system must be "reset" to prepare for future attacks.Lecture 9 Self Tolerance and MHC Restriction, 88T cells must be trained to focus on appropriately presented invaders, and B and T lymphocytes must learn not to attack our own bodies.Lecture 10 Immunological Memory, 98The innate immune system remembers pathogens which have been attacking humans for millions of years. In contrast, B and T cells remember pathogens we have encountered during our lifetime. Memory B and T lymphocytes respond more quickly and effectively to a subsequent attack by the same invader.Lecture 11 The Intestinal Immune System, 103The human intestines are home to trillions of bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites. How the immune system deals with these potentially dangerous intestinal residents, which frequently invade the tissues surrounding the intestines, is a hot topic in immunology.Lecture 12 Vaccines, 110Vaccines safely mimic the attack of an invader so that our immune system will be primed and ready for a future challenge by the same invader.Lecture 13 The Immune System Gone Wrong, 116The immune system generally does a good job of defending us without causing a lot of "collateral damage." Sometimes, however, mistakes are made.Lecture 14 Immunodeficiency, 126Serious disease may result when our immune system does not operate at full strength. Humans who are infected with the AIDS virus have profoundly impaired immune systems.Lecture 15 Cancer and the Immune System, 131The human immune system is not very good at defending us against cancer. Indeed, there is a built-in conflict between the need to minimize the chance that its weapons will attack our own bodies, and the need to destroy wannabe cancer cells.Glossary, 139Here are definitions of some of the terms that immunologists use - but which "normal" people wouldn't.List of Acronyms and Abbreviations, 142Immunologists are big on acronyms and abbreviations, so I've made a list to which you can refer.Index, 143