The Age Of Immunology

In this fascinating and inventive work, A. David Napier argues that the central assumption of immunology—that we survive through the recognition and elimination of non-self—has become a defining concept of the modern age. Tracing this immunological understanding of self and other through an incredibly diverse array of venues, from medical research to legal and military strategies and the electronic revolution, Napier shows how this defensive way of looking at the world not only destroys diversity but also eliminates the possibility of truly engaging difference, thereby impoverishing our culture and foreclosing tremendous opportunities for personal growth. To illustrate these destructive consequences, Napier likens the current craze for embracing diversity and the use of politically correct speech to a cultural potluck to which we each bring different dishes, but at which no one can eat unless they abide by the same rules. Similarly, loaning money to developing nations serves as a tool both to make the peoples in those nations more like us and to maintain them in the nonthreatening status of distant dependents. To break free of the resulting downward spiral of homogenization and self-focus, Napier suggests that we instead adopt a new defining concept based on embryology, in which development and self-growth take place through a process of incorporation and transformation. In this effort he suggests that we have much to learn from non-Western peoples, such as the Balinese, whose ritual practices require them to take on the considerable risk of injecting into their selves the potential dangers of otherness—and in so doing ultimately strengthen themselves as well as their society. The Age of Immunology, with its combination of philosophy, history, and cultural inquiry, will be seen as a manifesto for a new age and a new way of thinking about the world and our place in it.

The rapidity of scientific progress over the last few years guarantees the utility of this new collection of state-of-the-art reviews on the immunology of aging, which is the result of extensive collaboration of more than sixty of the greatest thinkers and scholars in the field, in cooperation with a number of junior colleagues. The book summarizes current knowledge on the cellular and molecular aspects of the aging immune system and their clinical relevance, providing insights into the effects of the aging process on susceptibilities to those diseases most common among elders. The retrieval strategies used to slow down the decline in the immune system in the elderly are another subject detailed extensively. By providing a broad overview of immunosenescence and its consequences, as well as their potential modulation, this book will fill a gap in a timely manner. It will be of value to all immunologists, whether novice or experienced, as well as geriatricians and epidemiologists.

In the classic sense, immunity is the ability of an organism to resist disease. On the one hand, we must distinguish between age and disease; on the other hand, the interaction between them is of considerable theoretical and practical interest. To the gerontologic research community, therefore, immunity also becomes the ability of an organism to resist age. Were the immune and other protective systems of the body able to maintain themselves over the course of time, and if there were no degradation related to age, the everyday loss of energy and vitality that occurs in the lives of older people as a consequence of viruses, arthritis, and other debilitating circumstances would be greatly lessened. The objective of gerontologists is not just to extend the life span but rather to improve the vigor, health, and quality oflife. To date, we have not developed a single index to measure immunity that is of use clinically in the evaluation of older people and of their immunologic compe tence. It may not be surprising that just such a clinical index may be available in the not-too-distant future. We can also look forward to the assembling of a greater body of information explaining how and why the immune system fails with age while, paradoxically, the incidence of autoimmune diseases increases with age. It is this latter phenomenon that may playa part in a wide range of chronic diseases from rheumatoid arthritis to senile dementia.

Immunology is the study of the body's protection from foreign macromolecules or invading organisms and the responses to them. These invaders include viruses, bacteria, protozoa or even larger parasites. In addition, immune responses are developed against our own proteins (and other molecules) in autoimmunity and against our own aberrant cells in tumour immunity. The first line of defence against foreign organisms are barrier tissues such as the skin that stop the entry of organism into our bodies. A second line of defence is the specific or adaptive immune system which may take days to respond to a primary invasion (that is infection by an organism that has not hitherto been seen). This new book brings together new research from around the globe dealing with this extremely important subject.

Advances in Immunology, Volume 146, the latest release in a long-established and highly respected publication, presents current developments and comprehensive reviews in immunology. Articles address the wide range of topics that comprise immunology, with this release focusing on The design of vaccine strategies to elicit HIV-1 broadly neutralizing antibodies, T cells in latent viral infections, Preserving Immune Homeostasis with A20, Transcriptional control in the context of innate and adaptive lymphoid development, RAG and AID structural biology and the important insights it has generated for the V(D)J recombination and CSR/SHM fields, and more. Presents current developments and comprehensive reviews in immunology Provides the latest in a longstanding, respected serial on the subject matter Focuses on recent advances in the advancing area of the mechanisms involved in the evolution of HIV-1 neutralizing antibodies

Building on the strengths of the first edition, the newly titled and expanded second edition remains a concise introduction to the fundamentals of immunology, with an expert synthesis of basic and clinical information., Augmented by color illustrations, and with increased emphasis on the molecular and genetic underpinnings of cellular phenomena, Textbook of Immunology covers the physiology of the immune system, disease entities related to immune system dysfunction, and the underlying pathophysiologic mechanisms of dysfunction. In response to advancing knowledge that influences the approach to presenting basic immunology, new chapters have been added on cytokines; host defense (non-specific immunity and specific immune responses); the aging immune system; and the pathophysiology, diagnosis, prevention, and therapy of AIDS., This book keeps pace with the explosion of information and data in immunology, and adeptly refines, organizes, and presents this body of knowledge to serve as a succinct introduction to modern immunologic concepts for medical students, and as an update and refresher in the basics for researchers and clinicians.

Previously published as: The Immunological basis of surgical science and practice, 1992.