Search

This book explains how the immune system functions, namely, how individual cells of the immune system make the decision to respond or not to respond to foreign microbes and molecules, and how the critical molecules function to trigger the cellular reactions in an all-or-none (quantal) manner. To date, there has not been a complete description of the immune system and its cells and molecules, primarily because most of the information has accumulated only in the last 40 years and our understanding has been expanding rapidly only in the last 20 years. It is now clear that the cells have evolved a way to “count” the number of foreign antigenic molecular “hits”, and they only react when a critical number of events have accumulated. Subsequently, control over the reaction is transferred to a systemic lymphocytotrophic hormone system that determines the tempo, magnitude and duration of the immune reaction.This book explains in detail how the immune system, cells and molecules work for the first time. With this understanding as a basis, the pathogenesis of autoimmunity can now be understood as a mutational usurpation of the genes encoding molecules that participate in a sensitive feedback regulatory control of the immune reaction. By comparison, malignant transformation is understood as a mutational usurpation of the genes encoding the molecules that control the quantal decision to proliferate, so that normal ligand/receptor cell growth control is circumvented.

The inverse correlation between allergic diseases and helminth infections has been debated for over 30 years. It was initially assumed that the underlying mechanism is an imbalance between Th1 and Th2 responses that, as a result of reduced exposure to Th1-inducing infectious pathogens, has tipped to allergic Th2 responses. It has only recently been clearly demonstrated that helminth infections have negative effects on allergic disease manifestation. This was shown to be consistent with the activity of regulatory cell populations, which control the effector mechanisms of both Th1 and Th2. In this book, international experts in the field discuss the various roles of the cell populations involved in allergic reactions and helminth infections such as regulatory T and B cells, natural killer T cells, mast cells and basophils. Essential for specialists and students in the field, the contributions to this volume pave the way to new directions of research for the successful immunization against helminths and the prevention of inflammatory responses in allergic and autoimmune diseases.