History of immunology

History of immunology grew out of the observation that individuals who have recovered from certain infectious diseases were thereafter protected from the disease.

1. History of Immunology
Amandeep Singh
Assistant Professor,
Department of Biotechnology,
GSSDGS KhalsaCollege, Patiala.

2. Introduction
•Historyofimmunologygrewoutoftheobservationthat
individualswhohaverecoveredfromcertaininfectious
diseaseswerethereafterprotectedfromthedisease.
•TheLatintermimmunis,meaning“exempt,”isthesourceof
EnglishwordImmunity,meaningthestateofprotectionfrom
infectiousdiseases.

3. Scientists behind Historical development
•Chinese and Turks
•Edward Jenner
•Louis Pasteur
•Emil Von Behring and ShibasaburoKitasato
•Elvin Kabat
•ElieMetchnikoff

4. Chinese and Turks (15
th
Century)
Dried crust from
smallpox pustule
Inhalation Variolation
Small cuts in skin

5. Edward Jenner (1798)
Father of Immunology
He hypothesized that an induced mild form of a disease could protect a person
from a virulent form.
Heobservedthatmilkmaidsdidnot
getsmallpoxinfectionapparently
becausetheywereexposedtoa
similarbutmilderformofdisease
calledcowpox.
Totestthisidea,Heinoculatedaeightyear
oldbynamedJamesPhillips,withfluid
fromacowpoxpustuleandlaterintestinally
infectedthechildwithsmallpox.Thechild
didnotdevelopsmallpox.

6. Louis Pasteur
Fresh Culture of
Vibrio Cholerae
8 week old culture of
Vibrio Cholerae
Fresh Culture of
Vibrio Cholerae
Normal Healthy
Chicken
Normal Healthy
Chicken
Immune Chicken
Immune Chicken
Chicken died
Alive Chicken
Ageing had weakened the virulence
Aged/attenuated culture might be
administered to protect against the disease.
He called this attenuated strain a vaccine(from the Latin vaccameaning cow), in honor
of Jenner’s work with cowpox inoculation

7. Louis Pasteur
Heat attenuated
Bacillus anthracis
Fresh culture of
Bacillus anthracis
Vaccinated Sheep
Vaccinated Sheep
Unvaccinated Sheep
Alive Sheep
Dead Sheep
Anthrax Experiment (1881) Rabies Experiment (1885)
Pasteur administered rabies vaccine to young boy
named Joseph Meister who had been repeatedly
bitten by a rabid dog.

8. Emil Von Behring and Shibasaburo
Kitasato(1890)
Serum: Liquid, non-cellular
part of coagulated blood
Serum
Neutralize toxin
Precipitate toxin
Agglutinate (clump)
bateria
Anti-toxin
Precipitin
Agglutinin
Animal immunized to
Diphtheria

9. Elvin Kabat(1930)
Serum
Neutralize toxin
Precipitate toxin
Agglutinate (clump)
bateria
Anti-toxin
Precipitin
Agglutinin
Gamma-globulin
(now immunoglobulin/Antibodies)
Because immunity is mediated by antibodies contained in body fluids (known at that
time as humors), it was called humoral immunity.

10. ElieMetchnikoff
•He observed that Cellsare responsible for immunity not the serum.
•He observed white blood cells which he termed phagocyteswere able to ingest
microorganisms and other foreign materials via a process known as phagocytosis.
•He termed this immunity as Cell-mediated or Cellular immunity.
Phagocyte