Instructional Immunology: A Textbook for Beginners

The immune system plays a central role in the mounting of defense for the body. It comprises molecules, cells, tissues, and organs besides the processes that fight off antigenic particles in the body. The defense response provided can either be innate or adaptive. Due to the complexity of the system, often a mixed type of both immunities is elicited in the body. A dysfunctional immune system can lead to the development of disease. These diseases can be acquired or congenitally transferred through genes. Broadly, the diseases can be hypersensitiveness, immunodeficiencies, autoimmunity, and chronic infections in which case the pathogens have not been fully eradicated by the immune system. By extension, the immune system has a bearing in graft rejection as well as repression of tumors. The system can also be a target for therapeutic purposes such as immunotherapy and vaccinology. Vaccines are key therapeutic modalities for infection prevention especially in children and immunocompromised individuals helping to scale down mortality and morbidity. This book provides easy to understood and comprehensive information on the immune system. It elaborates systematically on the various aspects of the system and how it works in a web-like fashion to clear antigens from the body. The book aims to provide an easy understanding of the immune system especially for beginners.