Vita:Immunológia

The study of the cellular and molecular components that comprise the immune system, including their function and interaction is the central science of immunology. The immune system has been divided into innate immune responses, and adaptive immune responses, the latter of which is further divided into humoral and cellular components.

The mainstay of classical immunology has been the interaction between antibodies and antigens. Without an understanding of the properties of these two biological entities, much of immunology would be non-existent.

In the 21st century though, immunology has broadened its horizons with much reserach being performed into more specialised niches of immunology. This includes the immunological function of cells, organs and systems not normally associated with immunology, as well as the function of the immune system outside of clasiscal models of immunity.

Clinical immunology

Clinical immunology is the medical field that deals specifically with disease caused by the immune system, and diseases of the immune system. This includes various disorders ranging from hypersensitivities such as asthma to immunodefiencies such as Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS). Additional autoimmunity and transplant rejection falls into this category.

Immunotherapy

See main article 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 as an adjuvant to chemotherapy (drugs) and radiotherapy (radiation). However, immunotherapy is often used in the immunosuppressed (such as HIV patients) and people suffering from other immune deficiencies.

Immunotherapy has also been successful in the alleviation of allergies.

Diagnostic immunology

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 to a desired analyte can be conjugated with a radiolabel, fluorescent label, or color-forming enzyme and used as a "probe" to detect the analyte.

Well known applications of this include immunoblotting, ELISA and immunohistochemical staining of microscope slides. The speed, accuracy and simplicity of such tests has led to the development of rapid techniques for the diagnosis of disease, microbes and even illegal drugs in the nevironment as opposed to in the laboratory (of course tests conducted in closed environmnet have a higher degree of accuracy). Such testing is also used to distinguish compatible blood types.

Evolutionary immunology

Study of the immune system in extant and extinct species is capable of giving us a key understanding of the evolution of species on Earth.

A hierachy of immunity can be seen from simple phagocytotic protection from single celled organisms, to circulating antimicrobial peptides in insects to lymphoid organs in vertebrates. Of course, like much of evolutionary, this is often seen from an anthrocentric ("humans are best") model of evolution, but it must be recognised, that every organisms immune system is absolutely capable of protecting it from most forms of harm.

Insects and other arthropods, while not possessing true adaptive immunity, show highly evolved systems of innate immunity, and are additionally protected from external injury (and exposure to pathogens) by their chitinous shells.

Additionally vertebrate and mammalian systems show a high degree of differentiation between there immune systems compared to other bodily systems. This can present a problem when trying to extrapolate experimental results from animal models (often mice onto humans).

Lásd még

(angol nyelvű) referenciák

Goldsby RA, Kindt TK, Osborne BA and Kuby J (2003) Immunology, 5th Edition, W.H. Freeman and Company, New York, New York, ISBN 0-7167-4947-5