Full Description
A leading figure in immunology takes readers inside the remarkably powerful human immune system.
Winner of the CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title of the Choice ACRL
The immune system has incredible power to protect us from the ravages of infection. Boosted by vaccines, it can protect us from diseases such as measles. However, the power of the immune system is a double-edged sword: an overactive immune system can wreak havoc, destroying normal tissue and causing diseases such as type I diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and multiple sclerosis. The consequences of an impaired immune system, on the other hand, are all too evident in the agonies of AIDS.
Packed with illustrations, stories from Dr. William E. Paul's distinguished career, and fascinating accounts of scientific discovery, Immunity presents the three laws of the human immune system—universality, tolerance, and appropriateness—and explains how the system both protects and harms us. From the tale of how smallpox was overcome and the lessons of the Ebola epidemic to the hope that the immune system can be used to treat or prevent cancer, Dr. Paul argues that we must take advantage of cutting-edge technologies and promising new tools in immunological research.
Contents
Preface
Part One
1. Defense and Danger
2. Tracing an Immune Response
3. The Laws of Immunology
4. Growing Up and Learning Immunology
Part Two
5. Vaccines and Serum Therapy
6. How Is Specificity Achieved?
7. Immunology's "Eureka"
8. How Does Each Lymphocyte Develop a Distinct Receptor?
9. B Cells and T Cells Recognize Different Types of Antigens
10. My Foray into the Specificity Problem
11. Genes and Immune Responses
12. The Laboratory of Immunology and the T-Cell Receptor
Part Three
13. What Is Tolerance?
14. How Does Tolerance Develop?
15. Regulatory T Cells and the Prevention of Autoimmunity
Part Four
16. Different Structures, Different Functions
17. Specific Types of Infections, Specific Types of T-Cell Responses
18. Our Discovery of IL-4 and the Cells That Make It
19. CD8 T Cells
20. Dendritic Cells
Part Five
21. An "Ancient" Immune Response Controls" Modern" Immunity
22. The Microbiome and Innate Immunity
23. Evolution of the Immune System and Innate Lymphoid Cells
Part Six
24. The HIV Epidemic and the Office of AIDS Research
25. How the Immune System Causes Rheumatoid Arthritis and Lupus
26. Allergy and Asthma
27. Interleukin-4 and Allergy
28. Can the Immune System Control Cancer?
29. New Parts for Old
30. Julien
Conclusion
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
Notes
Index
