MM302 Immunology and Infection (Trial)

In this section, we will have an overview of the human immune system. The human immune system can be divided into innate immunity and adaptive immunity. These two types of immunity have distinctive characteristics and involve different types of cells, chemicals and physical barriers. 

Besides, important aspects of the immune system such as 1. signal transduction, 2. leukocyte circulation and migration into tissues, 3. lymphatic system and 4. cytokine will also be discussed. 

The innate immunity provides the first line of defense against infectious microbes. Besides, the innate immunity is also responsible for the elimination of damaged cells and initiation of tissue repair processes. 

It is crucial to realise that the innate and adaptive immunities are not mutually exclusive of each other. The innate immunity plays important role in stimulating the adaptive immune responses so that the adaptive immunity could be developed and become more effective in eradicating the pathogens. 

The adaptive immunity initiates much slower compared to innate immunity upon microbial infection. However, adaptive immunity provides immunity towards microbes which do not portray antigens that can be recognised by innate immunity. 

Adaptive immunity can be divided into cell mediated immunity and humoral immunity. In this section, the process of the development of adaptive immunity will be discussed. 

As discussed previously, human body is well equipped with many different types of immunity to defend itself against invading microbes. In this section, we are going to discuss about the major types of microbes and the specific immune responses triggered by them. Generally, the microbes will be classified into the following groups: 1. extracellular bacteria, 2. intracellular bacteria, 3. viruses, 4. fungi and 5. parasites,