501687 - IMMUNOLOGY (A-L)

The concept of Immunity (Modern meaning of the term immunity, Natural and artificial immunity, Key events in the history of immunity and immunisation, Effects of immunisation on population, Disease control through immunisation).

The experimental foundations of Immunology (Natural serum immunity, Toxin and antitoxin, Serology and serotherapy, Allergy and its transfer, Koch's phenomenon, Early work on tumour graft rejection, Transfer of delayed-type hypersensitivity and graft rejection, General properties of the immune response)

The cells of immunity (The role of lymphocyte in immunity, Two major subpopulations of lymphocytes: T and B, Cell cooperation in the antibody response, Subpopulations of T lymphocytes, Natural killer (NK) lymphocytes)

The molecules of immunity (Pattern-recognition receptors, Antigen-specific receptors, MHC proteins and antigen processing, The interface between innate and adaptive immunity)

The modern synthesis (From the general properties of adaptive immunity - specificity, diversity, memory, self - non self discrimination - to the clonal selection theory.

The properties of antigens (Antigens and haptens, B and T cell epitopes, Adjuvants, Superantigens)

The structure of MHC proteins (Structure of MHC class I proteins, Structure of MHC class II proteins, Structure of MHC - T cell receptor complexes)

The stucture of antibodies and T cell receptors (Subunit composition and domain organization of antibodies, The Ig fold (C and V domain), Structural basis of the antigen-binding site, Overall relationships between domains in an intact monoclonal antibody, Isotypes, allotypes and idiotypes, Outline structure of the T cell receptor)

Monoclonal Antibodies (HGPRT- and TK- myeloma mutants, HAT selection and hybrid myelomas, The consequence of the antibody response to rodent antibodies for human therapy).

Antibody-antigen interactions (The specificity and affinity of antigen-antibody interactions (Ka, Kd, k+1, k-1), Valency and affinity, Estimating antibody affinity and kinetics, The interactions of antibodies with insoluble antigens, The interactions of antibodies with soluble antigens,

Principles of radio- and enzyme- linked immunoassays)

The antibody, T cell receptor and MHC loci (Theories of antibody formation, Evidence for somatic recombination of antibody and TCR genes, Locus, alleles, polymorphism and haplotype, Chromosomal location of the Ig, T cell receptor and MHC loci, The number of antibody, T cell receptor and MHC genes, The antibody heavy chain locus, The antibody k light chain locus, The antibody l light chain locus, The T cell receptor a/d, b and g loci, The MHC locus)

Primary repertoires of antibodies and T cell receptors (Genetic processes responsible for the diversity of antibody, TCR and MHC genes, V, D and J segments and genetic assignment of the CDRs, VDJ recombination, Factors determining the size of the repertoire, The relationship between repertoire size and antibody affinity)

Antibody affinity maturation (Primary and secondary antibody responses: lag-phase, titre, isotype and affinity, Mutational drift and repertoire shift during the maturation of the antibody response, Thermodynamic vs. kinetic parameters affecting antibody maturation, Boundaries and targeting of somatic hypermutation, Machinery and Phases of somatic hypermutation)

B and T cell development (Allelic exclusion, B cell development (stages and markers), Expression of antibody genes during B cell development, T cell development (stages and markers), Positive selection for MHC-restricted T cells, Negative selection for self-reactive T cells)

Tolerance (Early work on immunological tolerance, T cell tolerance and clonal deletion, B cell tolerance and clonal anergy)

The immune network (General structure of cytokine and cytokine receptors, Structural basis of redundancy, functional roles of the cytokine network)

Cell mediated effector responses (Cell Killing by cytotoxic lymphocytes (CTL), Cell Killing by natural killer (NK) cells, Antibody-dependent, cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC), Delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH))

Complement (The classic pathway, The alternative pathway, The membrane attack complex, Regulatory proteins)

Blood Groups (Serology, genetics and biochemistry of the ABO, Hh and Lewis groups, Serology, genetics and biochemistry of the Rh groups, Haemolytic transfusion reactions (HTR), Haemolytic disease of the newborn (HDN))

Transplantation (The 'laws' of transplantation, Hyperacute, acute and chronic rejection,

Major and minor histocompatibility genes and their role in graft rejection, The basis of tissue typing, Anti-T cells monoclonal antibodies in prevention of graft rejection and GVHD)

Vaccines (Immunity to infection, Attenuated vaccines, Inactivated vaccines, Subunit vaccines, Toxoid vaccines)

Hypersensitivity (Gell and Coombs classification, Type I hypersensitivity, Type II hypersensitivity, Type III hypersensitivity, Type IV hypersensitivity, The genetics of asthma)

Imunodeficiencies (Genetic, Acquired, AIDS, Discovery and impact on world wide health, Structure and life cycle of HIV, The search for rational AIDS therapies, Natural disease progression and immunity, The question of the AIDS vaccine)

Autoimmunity (Criteria for inclusion, Examples and classification, Breakdown of self-tolerance, Therapeutic approaches)