What Is the History of Immunology?

Immunology is the science that studies the response process and mechanism of the host's immune system to recognize and eliminate harmful organisms and their components.

Development history of immunological detection technology

Immunology is the science that studies the response process and mechanism of the host's immune system to recognize and eliminate harmful organisms and their components.

In recent decades, with the progress of biomedical research, immunology has strongly promoted the development of various fields in medicine and biology with its unique advantages. People have a more comprehensive understanding of the nature of immunity.

Chinese name

Development history of immunological detection technology

Originated from

Latin "Immunitas"

Original intention

Exemption from taxation and service

Object

Study the host immune system

Features

Cooperate and restrict each other

Most basic

Antigens and antibodies

Immunology is the science that studies the response process and mechanism of the host's immune system to recognize and eliminate harmful organisms and their components. The term "Immunity" is derived from the Latin "Immunitas", which was originally intended to be exempt from taxes and service. Traditional immunology originated from the ability of humans to resist infectious diseases. Early research focused on the anti-infective ability of antibodies. After the middle of the 20th century, people gradually broke through the limitations of anti-infection research, and studied the role of various antigens and microorganisms, and developed basic immunology, clinical immunology, immunological detection, medical immunology Branch. Therefore, modern immunology defines "immunity" as: the sum of biological effects produced by the body in the process of recognition and response to "self" and "heterogeneous". Normally, it is a physiological function of maintaining internal environment stability. There is a complete anatomical system in the body responsible for immune function-the immune system. Like other systems, it has its own operating mechanism and cooperates with and restricts other systems to maintain the physiological balance of life processes.

In recent decades, with the advancement of biomedical research, immunology has strongly promoted the development of various fields in medicine and biology with its unique advantages. People have a more comprehensive understanding of the nature of immunity. At present, immunology has become one of the leading disciplines in the fields of medicine and biology. It mainly includes the following: the organizational structure of the immune system, the immune system's recognition and response to antigens, the immune system's rejection effect on antigens and its mechanism, the induction, maintenance, destruction of immune tolerance and its mechanism. The most basic of these are antigens and antibodies.

Antigen (Ag) is a molecule that can cause an immune response. It is a necessary condition for the formation of a specific immune response. Without the stimulation of an antigen, there is no specific immune formation.

Antigen concept

Antigen is recognized by T lymphocytes and B lymphocytes, which can stimulate the body's immune system to induce an immune response to produce corresponding antibodies and / or lymphocyte-causing immune substances. A substance that specifically binds. A complete antigen should include two basic properties: Immunogenicity or Antigenicity, that is, the ability to induce stimulation of the immune system to produce antibodies or sensitize lymphocytes. Substances are called immunogens (Immunogen); Immunoreactivity refers to the performance of specific binding with corresponding antibodies or sensitized lymphocytes, causing immune response.

A substance with both of the above characteristics is a complete antigen, and a substance that has only immunoreactivity is called a hapten. Antigen is the initiation factor of immune response. The body's immune response is closely related to the nature of the antigen. Under certain conditions, antigens can also cause the body to develop immune tolerance (Immunologictolerance).

Antibodies (Anitbody) are glycoproteins produced by B cells that undergo antigen stimulation and proliferate and differentiate into plasma cells, which can specifically bind to antigens. Immunoglobulin (Ig) is usually a group of globulins with antibody activity and antibody-like structure. It can be seen from the definition that all antibodies are immunoglobulins, and not all immunoglobulins are antibodies, such as myeloma protein. Although its structure is similar to antibodies, but without immunological activity, it is not an antibody. Antibodies are mainly found in serum, but also in other body fluids and exocrine fluids.

Immunology has gone through four rapid development stages:

After 1876, a variety of pathogenic bacteria were discovered, and vaccines were made from inactivated and attenuated pathogens to prevent a variety of infectious diseases and enable the vaccine to be widely developed and used.

Around 1900, the discovery of antigens and antibodies revealed the fundamental immunological problem of "antigen-induced specific antibody production", which promoted the development of immunochemistry and the clinical application of antibodies.

After 1957, the rise of cellular immunology, humans understand that specific immunity is the result of the active immune response process of T and B lymphocytes to antigen stimulation, understand the different effects and synergistic functions of cellular and humoral immunity.

After 1977, the development of molecular immunology has been able to understand the intrinsic relationship and mechanism of antigen stimulation and lymphocyte response types from the molecular level of gene activation.

Like other disciplines, immunology also gradually occurs, develops, and matures with the development of society and scientific progress. The development of immunology can be divided into three periods: primitive, traditional and modern.

Immunology originated in China. In the long-term clinical practice of ancient Chinese doctors in treating smallpox, they found that smallpox patients and caregivers after recovery, or people wearing clothes infected with acne no longer suffer from smallpox, so they boldly used the smallpox powder to blow into Normal people have nostrils to prevent smallpox, which is the earliest original vaccine in the world. According to research, this kind of human acne vaccine appeared in the Kaiyuan period of the Tang Dynasty (AD 713-741), and it was widely circulated to the people in the 10th century and gradually spread abroad.

Around the 15th century, the human vaccination method was passed to the Middle East. The locals modified the nostril blowing method into an intradermal vaccination method, and the immune effect was more significant. In 1721, the ambassador of the British ambassador to Turkey, Mary Montagu, introduced the vaccination method to Britain and soon spread throughout Europe. However, although this kind of empirical human vaccination has certain immune effects, it is not very reliable, and there is also the risk of artificial infection, so it has not been generally accepted by people.

By the end of the 18th century, E. Jenner, a rural doctor in England, was inspired by the fact that milkmaids often suffer from cowpox (a mild localized acne) but do not suffer from smallpox. After a series of experiments, they were successfully created in 1798. Vaccinia vaccination, and vaccination method of vaccinia vaccination. This is the first successful vaccine in the world, and it has made an immortal contribution to human's ultimate victory over smallpox. But at that time, microbiology had not yet developed, and people did not yet know the pathogens of smallpox and vaccinia, so this isolation success has not been theoretically sublimated. Immunology has remained in this primitive state of experience for the next century.

In the late 19th century, the development of microbiology laid the foundation for the formation of immunology. In 1880, French microbiologist L. Pasteur accidentally discovered that inoculation of old chicken cholera cultures could protect chickens from infection with toxic strains, and successfully created attenuated anthracnose vaccines and rabies vaccines, and began the immune mechanism. Research. In 1883, Russian zoologist E. Metchnikoff discovered the phagocytosis of leukocytes and proposed the theory of cellular immunity. In 1890, German physician E. vonBehring and Japanese scholar Kitato discovered diphtheria antitoxin. In 1894 Belgian serologist J. Bordet discovered complement. These findings support the theory of humoralimmunity. The two schools of thought had been debating for a time. It was not until the early 20th century that the British physician A. Wright discovered the conditioner, and the German scholar P. Ehrlich proposed the side chain theory to unify the two theories. In 1901, the term "immunology" first appeared in "IndexMedicus", and in 1916 "Journal of Immunology" was first published. As a discipline, immunology has not been officially recognized until now.

At the same time, serology, which studies the response of antigen bodies, has gradually formed and developed. The agglutination reaction was discovered by H. Durham et al. In 1896, the precipitation reaction was discovered by R. Kraus in 1897, the human ABO blood group was discovered by K. Landsteiner in 1900, and the complement binding reaction was discovered by J. Bordet. These experiments are gradually applied in clinical tests. In the decades that followed, serological research represented the mainstream of immunological development.

: After the middle of the 20th century, many new discoveries in immunology frequently challenged the traditional concept of immunology. In 1945, R. Owen discovered that two identical calves of the same twin could tolerate each other. In 1948, C. Snell discovered a histocompatibility antigen. In 1953, R. Billingham and others successfully performed an artificial tolerance test. In 1956, Witebsky et al. Established an animal model of autoimmune disease. These immunobiological phenomena force people to step out of the circle of anti-infection and even look at immunology outside the medical field.

So a new theory of clone selection theory of immunology was proposed by Australian scholar F. Burnet in 1958. The theory holds that: there are immune cell clones that recognize various antigens in the body; the antigen selects the corresponding clone weight through cell receptors and activates and proliferates them into antibody-producing cells and immune memory cells; immune cells in contact with the antigen during the embryonic period It can be destroyed or inhibited, called a forbiddenclone; some immune cells can react with their antigens due to mutations. Although this theory is not perfect, it explains most of the immune phenomena. It is accepted by most scholars and proved by subsequent experiments. It can be said to be an epoch-making immunological theory.

After a while, cellular immunity has risen again with a new look. In 1956, B. Glick discovered the role of the supraluminal sac. In 1961, J. Miller discovered the function of the thymus. In 1966, H. Claman et al. Distinguished B cells from T cells and discovered their immune synergy. Different subpopulations of T cells and their identification methods have been discovered successively, as well as the mechanism of naive action among immune cells and the restriction of major histocompatibility complexes.

At the same time, humoral immunity continues to develop in depth. After confirming that the antibody was serum gamma globulin in the early 1940s, R. Porter obtained the fragment of the antibody by proteolysis in 1950, and G. Edelman obtained the polypeptide chain of the antibody by chemical fragmentation, which together proved the molecular structure of the antibody; 60 The classification and name of immunoglobulins were unified in the chronology; in 1957, G.Köhler and C.Milstein et al. Used B-cell hybridoma technology to prepare monoclonal antibodies; in 1978, S.Tonegawa discovered the rearrangement of immunoglobulin genes.

Since the 1980s, many cytokines have been discovered in succession. The study of their receptors, genes and their biological activities has promoted the vigorous development of molecular immunology. Some people call it "the period of molecular immunology", but theoretically has not broken the theory of clonal reselection, but only from the technical means. Taking immunological research to the next level.

Since the founding of New China, great progress has been made in the application of immunology in medicine. Biological products for the control of infectious diseases not only meet domestic needs, but also support other countries. New vaccines developed in recent years, such as chemical vaccines and hepatitis B vaccines, have approached the advanced level in the world. China has eliminated smallpox, and basically eliminated and controlled human plague and true cholera, as well as severe infectious diseases. The incidence of common infectious diseases such as polio, measles, diphtheria, pertussis, and tetanus has been greatly reduced.

Modern immunology has gradually developed into an independent discipline with its own theoretical system and special research methods. It provides some new means for biological research.

As early as the early 20th century, people have used immunology to distinguish human blood types. Plant taxonomy has long applied immunological methods. Immunological techniques are also used in the study of plant and animal toxins. For example, from 1889 to 1890, people used immunological techniques to study diphtheria toxin and tetanus toxin, and later used it to study phytotoxins, such as venom, croton toxin and snake venom in spider toxins and spider toxins. In addition, sedimentation reactions have long been used to identify blood spots in animals. Some new technologies developed in recent years, such as radioimmunity, immunofluorescence, and enzyme immunity, have provided practical research tools for biology.

In essence, modern immunology is but a branch of bio-medicine. However, with the development of science and technology, it has derived many independent branch disciplines, such as molecular immunology, immunobiology and immunogenetics, which are closely related to modern biology, and immune blood, which is closely related to medicine. Science, immunopharmacology, immunopathology, reproductive immunology, transplant immunology, tumor immunology, anti-infective immunology, clinical immunology, etc.

At present, the research on immunology has reached the cellular level and molecular level, and people are working hard to explore the basic physiological law of organisms-the self-stabilizing mechanism of immunity. Many important issues in medicine, such as autoimmunity, hypersensitivity, tumor immunity, transplant immunity, immune inheritance, etc., will certainly be better solved.