You are on page 1of 37

History of Immunology

Historical Perspectives

The word immunity (L: immunis free of) was


used in the context of being free of the burden of
taxes or military conscription.

The science of immunology grew from the


common knowledge that those who survived
many of them with common infectious diseases
rarely contracted that disease again.

From early writings, it is


clear that primitive man
knew about disease and its
ravages. One finds in the
Babylonian
Epic
of
Gilgamesh (2000 B.C.
Mesopotamian hero) records
of
the
presence
of
pestilence and disease.
In Egypt, it was thought that
disease and pestilence was
punishment rendering as a
result of bad deeds or
evil thoughts. Even the
Old Testament is filled with
pestilence that God wrought
upon those who crossed
him.

Beginning around 1000 A.D., the


ancient Chinese practiced a form of
immunization by inhaling dried
powders derived from the crusts of
smallpox lesions.

In 430 B.C., Thucydides recorded that


while the plague was raging in Athens,
the sick and dying would have
received no attention had it not been
for those individuals who had already
contracted the disease and recovered
and recognized their immune
status.

Over 2,000 years ago diphtheria was


described, and the poet Virgil wrote
an account of anthrax. Hippocrates
(460 - 379BC) who is often acclaimed
as the "Father of Medicine" outlined in
detail the symptoms of tetanus

Around the fifteenth century, a practice of applying


powdered smallpox "crusts" and inserting them with a pin
or poking device into the skin became commonplace.The
process is known as variolation.

The process was popularized in Great Britain, largely


through the efforts of Mary Wortley Montagu; The
practice having no standard inoculum cause death from
small pox.

Milestones in Immunology

1796 Where Immunology


Began

EDWARD JENNER
is rightly described as the "Founding
Father of Immunology". He is best
known for his experiments on the
smallpox vaccine and the trials he
carried out prove its protective
value. His work began a pathway of
discovery of the immune system,
how it works and how it can be
exploited to the benefit of man.
Scientists from all over the world
have contributed to these
discoveries.

Milestones in Immunology

1885 The Spread of


Vaccination

LOUIS

PASTEUR

discovered how to prepare and


use attenuated diseasecausing microbes as vaccines
against cholera in chickens,
and anthrax and rabies in
animals and man.

He developed vaccination.

Milestones in Immunology

1908 ELIE

METCHNIKOFF and
PAUL EHRLICH
shared the Nobel Prize for
their work. Metchnikoff was
the first to observe cellular
phagocytosis and suggest
its protective importance.
Ehrlich developed stains
for, and described cells in
the blood. He put forward
the first idea of antibodies
as molecular chains on the
surface of cells

1913 CHARLES

RICHET

worked on anaphylaxis in
his studies with Paul J
Portier on the body's
response to toxins. He was
one of the first to
demonstrate that the
protective effects of the
immune system could also
cause great damage to the
body.

Milestones in Immunology

1901 EMIL VON

BEHRING and
SHIBASABURO
KITASATO

discovered that antibodies


against diphtheria and
tetanus poisons could be
given to patients to cure
them from these diseases.
Von Behring was awarded
the first Nobel Prize for
Medicine for this work on
serum therapy.

1905

ROBERT KOCH
developed a way to make
pure cultures of bacteria. He
discovered the cholera
bacterium. He also identified
the bacillus that causes
tuberculosis (TB) and
described the host response to
it.

Milestones in Immunology

1919

JULES BORDET
discovered that complement was
involved in lysis of red cells and
was fixed by antibody in immune
reactions, leading to bacteria
being killed. His findings were
later used to develop a test for
syphilis.

1930

KARL
LANDSTEINER

discovered the ABO blood


groups and Rhesus factor.
His research paved the
way for successful blood
transfusions. He also made
major contributions to our
understanding of the way
in which antibody
molecules combine with
antigen and of the
specificity of antibodies at
the chemical level.

Milestones in Immunology
1951

MAX THEILER
showed that yellow fever is
caused by a virus, and that
growing the virus in culture
so weakened the strain
that it would not cause
disease when injected into
humans. Instead it acts as
a
vaccine
to
protect
against infection

1957

DANIEL BOVET

found that many of the


unpleasant symptoms of
allergy are caused by
histamine which produces
inflammation. He
developed drugs which
blocked the action of
histamine (antihistamines).

Milestones in Immunology

1960

F. MACFARLANE
BURNET and PETER
MEDAWAR
were awarded the Nobel
Prize for their work on
immunological tolerance
and cellular immunity.
Their work focused
attention on lymphocytes
as the key players in the
immune response.

1972

RODNEY PORTER
and
GERALD
EDELMAN
described the chemical
structure
of
antibody
molecules. They deduced
how they have a constant
region and two sites which
bind to antigen. They were
also able to explain how
variations in the amino acid
sequence
of
individual
antibodies
results
in
different binding shapes
allowing them to bind to
many different antigens

Milestones in Immunology

1977

ROSALIND YALLOW
working with Soloman Berson
discovered the association of
autoantibodies with insulinresistant diabetes. She
developed a very sensitive
method for measuring the
concentration of hormones in
blood, using specific
antibodies and a radioactive
antigen. This "immunoassay"
method for hormones had
enormous clinical benefit for
patients with hormonal
problems. She was the first
woman immunologist to win
the Nobel Prize

1980

BARUJ
BENACERRAF,
GEORGE SNELL
and JEAN DAUSSET
demonstrated the
importance of the genes
which govern the antigen
presenting molecules on cell
surfaces: the Major
Histocompatibility Complex
genes. These control the
immune response to
infection and are also very
important in transplant
rejection.

Milestones in Immunology

1984

NIELS

K. JERNE

was recognised for his


important theoretical
contributions to the
understanding of how the
immune system is
controlled. His ideas about
antigens selecting the
appropriate antibodybearing cells paved the
way for Burnet's clonal
selection theory

1984

CESAR MILSTEIN
and GEORGE
KOHLER
were, in this same year,
recognised for their
development of the
technique for making
monoclonal antibodies.
These are now a tool used
widely in medicine,
research and industry.

Milestones in Immunology

1987

SUSUMU

TONEGAWA

worked on the organisation


of antibody genes and
demonstrated how so
many antibody patterns
could be produced by such
a limited number of genes.
His ideas were also very
important in understanding
the structure and
formation of the T cell
receptor.

1991

E.

DONAL
THOMAS and
JOSEPH MURRAY
are the latest in a long line
of immunologists to be
awarded the Nobel Prize.
They received it for their
work on transplantation
immunology

EMIL

UNANUE

has been responsible for


many of the key
discoveries relating to
antigen processing by
macrophages. He first
demonstrated that antigen
processing was first
necessary for T cells to
recognize an antigen.

BARUJ

BENACERRAF

introduced phagocytosis.
He was awarded for his
role in demonstrating that
MHC genes could control
the ability of an animal to
mount an immune
response to a specific
epitope.

DR.

JACQUES
MILLER

was the first to


demonstrate that the
thymus played a
significant role in the
development of the
immune response

DR.

GUS NOSSAL

demonstrated that antigen


was either trapped on
macrophages or on the
surface of dendritic cells.
He showed that this
antigen, when
appropriately presented,
caused some lymphocytes
to progressively develop
into plasma cells.

ALIC

ISAACS

together with Jean


Lindenmann discovered
the antiviral substance
that they called interferon.

RODNEY

PORTER

awarded the Nobel Prize


for his work on the
structure of antibodies.

DONNAL

THOMAS was the first

to use bone marrow


allografts to treat leukemia
patients

WILLIAM

COLEY

had devised a way of


increasing TNF levels in his
patients in a form of septic
shock. The TNF helped
destroy some tumors, esp.
sarcomas the first
recorded form of tumor
immunotherapy

LUC

MONTAIGNER was

able to isolate a retrovirus


not from a patient with
clinical AIDS but from a a
non immunodeficient
homosexual with
lymphadenopathy

DR.

THOMAS
TOMASI and his
colleagues

were studying the


structure of IgA secreted in
saliva and demonstrated
that it was not derived
from the bloodstream by
active transport but that it
was locally synthesized in
the salivary gland.

FRANK

AUSTEN

has played a prominent

role in increasing our


understanding of the
mechanisms involved in
allergy and anaphylaxis by
analyzing these products.

The experimental basis for


an understanding of
tolerance was provided by

RAY OWEN, who

observed that some


nonidentical twin cattle
were incapable of an
immune response against
their nonidentical sibling

JEAN

DAUSSET

an early pioneer in the


study of the human major
histocompatibility complex
or HLA.

JAMES

GOWANS

Discovered that
adaptive immunity is
mediated by lymphocytes

MICHAEL

HEIDELBERGER

developed the quantitative


precipitin assay, ushering
in the era of quantitative
immunochemistry.

Paul

Ehrlich

postulated the cellular


origin of antibodies. He
said that cells have side
chain projections.
Formulated the side chain
theory of antibody
formation.

Almoth

Wright

He observed humoral or
circulating factors called
opsonins

Clemens

Pirquet

von

discovered delayed
hypersensitivity reactions

Clarence

Little

formulated the genetic


theory of tumor
transplantation

Arne

Tiselius &
Elvin Kabat
provided evidence that
antibodies are gamma
globulins

Albert

Coons

introduced
fluorescence labeling of
antibodies

Jules

Freund

introduced adjuvants

Peter

Medawar

used skin grafts to show


that tolerance is acquired
characteristic of the
lymphoid cells a key
feature of the clonal
selection theory

George

Snell

worked out the genetics


on murine MHC &
generated the congenic
strains needed for its
biologic analysis laying the
ground work for our
current understanding of
MHC in T cell biology.

Pierre

Grabar

discovered
immunoglobulins as
transporteurs

Jacques

Ouidin

developed precipitin
test in gels and the
idotypes

Orjan

Ouchterlony &
Stephen Elek
developed double
immuno-diffusion test in
gels

Astrud

Fargaeus

discovered plasma cells


as antibody producing cells

Milan

Hasek

provided experimental
evidence of acquired
immunologic tolerance

Gerald

Edelman

made crucial discoveries


about the structure of
immunoglobulins, the first
complete sequence of
antibody molecule

Kimishige

Ishizaka

discovered IgE as
reaginic antibody

Noel

Warmer

discovered that bursa of


Fabricius is responsible for
generating the cells
capable of manufacturing
antibodies B cells

Acoons

Behring

Allison

Arrhenius

Austen

Coley

Doherty

Douglas

Durham, H.

Gowans

Gruber, M.

Heidelberger

Kabat, E.

Kendall

Little, C.

Miller, J.

Mitchison

Nossal, G.

Montagner, L.

Montagu

Ouidin, J.

Nicolas, A.

Pirquet, C.

Tak Mak

Thomas

Tiselius

Yalow, R.

Yalow, R.

Zinkernagel

Unanue

Murray

Thank

you .

Jules Bordet

Elie Metchnikoff

Peter Gorer

You might also like