The Immune System: A Very Short Introduction

About this book

The immune system is central to human health. Growing understanding of the immune system, and especially the creation of immune memory (which results in long-lasting protection), have led to major breakthroughs in medicine and the design of vaccines.

In this Very Short Introduction, Paul Klenerman describes the immune system, and how it works in health and disease. He considers how the immune system evolved, the basic rules that govern its behaviour, and the major health threats where it is important. Paul Klenerman also explains how things can go wrong when there is too little or too much immunity. The book also addresses what we learned about the immune system from the COVID-19 pandemic and how that has influenced thinking about future pandemics.

Contents

Acknowledgements

1. What is the immune system?
2. First responders: the innate immune response
3. Adaptive immunity: a voyage of (non-)self-discovery
4. Making memories
5. Too little immunity: immunological failure
6. Too much immunity: auto-immunity and allergic diseases
7. Immunology taught by COVID-19

Further reading

Customer Reviews

Biography

Paul Klenerman is Wellcome Trust Senior Clinical Research Fellow and Professor of Immunology at the University of Oxford. He is also Immune Theme Lead at the Oxford Biomedical Research Centre. He authored the chapter on Adaptive Immunity, and co-authored that on the Hepatitis C Virus in the Oxford Textbook of Medicine.