Immunity in body defense and damage. Immune pathology
73 topics with concise breakdowns: definitions, key facts, and exam questions.
The immune system is a double-edged sword. This section focuses on how immunity protects us against pathogens and tumors, and how its failures lead to devastating consequences for the body. Here is a clinically essential foundation for future physicians.
The material is divided into two key blocks. The first covers normal protective and regulatory reactions: features of antibacterial and antiviral responses, histocompatibility genetics, tolerance, and mechanisms of graft rejection. The second covers immune pathology. We thoroughly analyze all four types of hypersensitivity, primary and secondary immunodeficiencies (including HIV infection), as well as autoimmune diseases (systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis). Special attention is paid to assessment methods: interpreting immunograms, ELISA, and molecular genetic diagnostics.
What is most frequently asked on tests and exams? Professors will definitely require you to explain the mechanisms of type I–IV hypersensitivity at the cellular level, ask you to interpret a real immunogram, and justify the principles of vaccination or allergen-specific immunotherapy (AIT). Master the mechanisms of autoimmune damage—without this, understanding modern immunosuppressive therapy is impossible.
The main goal is to induce effective immunological memory without developing clinical manifestations of the disease.
Where does adaptive immunity first encounter a spreading infection?
In regional lymph nodes. During lymphogenous spread, they serve as a barrier where innate immunity cells hand over the baton to lymphocytes.
Why is lipid A of such great clinical significance?
Lipid A is a toxic component of the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria. It acts as an endotoxin, which is responsible for the main manifestations of the biological aggressiveness of these microorganisms.
Why is a wave-like course of fever observed in sleeping sickness?
The causative agent (Trypanosoma brucei) has about a thousand genes encoding surface glycoprotein. As soon as the immune system produces antibodies against one variant, the parasite expresses the next gene, causing a new wave of the disease (remittent course).
Why is the mitogenic response to infection useless for the body?
Mitogens recruit a huge number of B lymphocytes into the reaction, but this process has no protective effect. Low-affinity IgM antibodies are produced without the formation of immunological memory, which only depletes the body's resources.
Which cells trigger the adaptive immune response?
The main initiators are myeloid dendritic cells. They capture the antigen, migrate to lymph nodes, and present it to T lymphocytes.
Master the entire topic in the "Immunology" course
This is a summary. The course covers everything tested in classes and exams.
723 pages of study guides for all topics
Assignments and quizzes after every topic — just like in a colloquium