History of Immunology Flashcards
To better understand the theoretical framework surrounding the Immunology and its development over time.
Thucydides
5th Century BC Greek historian/philosopher.
First observed that individuals who had recovered from plague became “immune” or “exempt” from future infections.
Variolation
Variolation is the process of exposing healthy individuals to material from lesions caused by a disease (under the skin or into the nose) to induce a mild form of the disease and establish future immunity.
This technique was first developed in 10th Century China, where smallpox was endemic. It was later brought to the Ottoman Empire (~1670) by Circassian traders, where it took root in the culture.
Because there is no standardization in the inoculum, variolation occasionally resulted in more serious forms of disease than anticipated, sometimes leading to mortality.
Lady Mary Wortley Montague
Wife of Lord Edward Wortley Montague, the ambassador to the Sublime Porte of the Ottomans in Istanbul.
Lady Montague observed variolation while staying in Istanbul, understood its importance, and brought the technique back to England where she brought it to the attention of the British Royals.
Charles Maitland
Surgeon who aided Lady Montague in her introduction of variolation to Europe.
Performed the “Royal Experiment.”
the Royal Experiment
Performed by the surgeon Charles Maitland.
Maitland variolated six condemned prisoners, then introduced them to smallpox. All six survived.
This experiment and later more controlled experiments were key to convincing Europe of the safety and effectiveness of variolation, and later led to the practice of variolation spreading to the Royals, then to England in the 1740’s, and shortly thereafter to the Americas and the rest of Europe.
Benjamin Jesty
English farmer who was the first to attempt inoculation with cowpox to develop immunity to smallpox. The inoculation he performed on his wife in 1774 is considered the first clinical vaccination ever performed.
Edward Jenner
Popularized Benjamin Jesty’s idea of using cowpox as a safe vaccine for smallpox. Performed the first experiments to demonstrate its effectiveness empirically.
Vaccinia Virus
More commonly known as cowpox.
From the latin “vacca” for cow, the word “vaccine” derives its name from this virus
Robert Koch
Working independently of Pasteur, Koch developed and refined the first techniques for bacterial cell culture, including the development of agar growth medium.
In 1875, Koch performed an experiment key to the development of the germ theory of disease. He inoculated the ear of a rabbit with the blood of an animal that had died of anthrax. Then, when the rabbit died the next day, he isolated infected lymph nodes and was able to show that the bacteria contained within them could transfer the disease to other animals.
Louis Pasteur
Commonly referred to as the “Father of Immunology.”
Pasteur worked with a form of bacillus baterium that causes cholera in chickens. In a serendipitous discovery, Pasteur left out a flask of bacillus on the bench over the summer, and when he tested its viability he found that while the bacteria were viable, they no longer caused disease in chickens.
Immediately understanding the similarities between this bacterium and Jenner’s cowpox, Pasteur named his treatment vaccination and used this technique to develop vaccines for cholera, anthrax, and rabies.
Ilya Metchnikoff
The first “Cellularist” in Immunology.
Noted in the 1880’s while studying the digestive organs that certain cells unconnected with digestion surrounded and engulfed carmine dye particles and splinters that he introduced into organisms. He named these cells “phagocytes,” from the Greek words meaning “devouring cells,” and was the first to suggest a role for phagocytosis in immunity to disease.
Shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Ehrlich in 1908 for their work on immunity.
Von Behring and Kitasato
The first “Humoralists” in Immunology.
Demonstrated that the transfer of a soluble “anti-toxin” in the blood of resistant animals could transfer immunity against Diphtheria.
Von Behring would go on to win the first ever Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1901 for this work.
Paul Ehrlich
Important theorist during the early development of the Humoral Theory of Immunity.
Predicte the existence of “immune bodies” (antibodies) and “side-chains” (receptors) from which they arise. Suggested that antigens interact with receptors borne by cells, resulting in the secretion of soluble receptors (antibodies). Surmised that erythrocytes would not have this capacity and speculated that this immune function might be a specialized characteristic of some “haemopoietic tissue.”
Ehrlich was also the first to introduce the concept of self/non-self discrimination.
Shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Metchnikoff in 1908 for their work on immunity.
Immunology at the end of the 19th Century.
By this period, several paradigms had been established for immunology:
The Germ Theory of Disease by Koch and Pasteur, holding that disease was caused by bacteria.
The Humoralist Theory of Immunity by Von Behring, Kitasato, and Ehrlich, suggesting that immunity to infection is caused by the existence of a soluble substance in the blood serum elaborated by special immune cells, and that regulation of this process is important to minimize the possibility of self-reactivity.
The Cellular Theory of Immunity by Metchnikoff, suggesting that the immune system responds to pathogens by recruiting phagocytes to clear bacteria and other pathogens.
Early Dominance of Humoral Theories of Immunity
After the establishment of Immunology as a field by the early 1900’s, the Humoralists played a dominant role (~1900-1942).
During this period, antibodies were the only known agents of immunological specificity, rendering Humoral Immunity the only viable theory for explaining the specificity displayed by immunological reactions.
