Vaccines and Immunotherapies Explained
Edition: 1
Copyright: 2023
Pages: 177
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Distinguishing self from nonself is the motto of the immune system. Learning about vaccines is learning about your own natural immune system. Vaccines are not like typical drugs, which perform their effects only while they are present in the body. Vaccines provide pieces of, whole-killed, or weakened germs for the immune system to practice a response. The vaccine is only present in the body for a short time, however, the immune system learns and remembers just as it does after infections. All the vaccine needs to do is provide the target and our natural immune system does the rest. This book will be discussing what “the rest” is all about.
1. Pandemics are not new
1.1 Dealing with wave after wave of pandemics
1.2 What is an R number?
1.3 The power of vaccines
2. Pathogens: The importance of knowing about your enemy
2.1 The smallest unit of life
2.2 Pathogens come in many forms
2.3 Size of pathogens matters to the immune cell!
3. Using our inherited natural defenses
3.1 The coevolutionary process between pathogens and their hosts
3.2 Important traits we have inherited from our ancestors: Our innate defenses
3.3 Effective vaccine design relies on our understanding of the innate branch of the immune system
4. The first responders: Our innate cellular military
4.1 Vaccines are a type of immunotherapy
4.2 Communication is the key to success: What are “flu-like” symptoms?
4.3 White Blood Cells on their days off
4.4 Innate WBC responses to small pathogens
4.5 Innate WBC responses to large pathogens
4.6 Innate WBC responses to pathogens that replicate inside cells
5. The power of diversity within the adaptive branch of our immune system
5.1 Pattern-recognizing receptors versus antigen receptors
5.2 Developing the adaptive system: Each cell is as unique as a snow flake
5.3 Initiating adaptive responses: Choosing the right cells out of billions
5.4 Can the number of vaccines overwhelm the adaptive WBCs?
6. Reaching out to management: Adaptive cells are now stepping in during an immune response
6.1 The adaptive branch of the immune system
6.2 Innate WBC soldiers gather entail for the Th cells
6.3 Th cell Generals drive military campaigns
6.4 There are two types of responses: which way will the Th Generals lead the immune System?
6.5 How the body avoids allergies?
6.6 Effective vaccines ensure strong communication from antigen-presenting cells to their Th cell Generals
7. B cells and antibodies
7.1 B cells neutralize the enemy and manage the innate branch’s response
7.2 B cells confirm targets with T helper cells
7.3 B cells are busy during peace time, preparing for the next infection and variants
7.4 B cells work intimately with the innate branch of the immune system
7.5 The power of antibodies in passive immunity
7.6 Passive immunization immunotherapy and use of antibodies in research
8. The power of memory and cancer immunotherapy
8.1 A primary response for any first encounter
8.2 A memory response for any additional encounter
8.3 Killer T cells are key to fighting viruses and cancers
8.4 Immunotherapy: Working with our natural immune system
9. Vaccine strategies (Thiru Vanniasinkam, Ph.D. and Wouter Kalle, Ph.D.)
9.1 Considerations for vaccine design
9.2 Different types of vaccines we are currently using
9.3 Recent approaches to vaccine development
10. Vaccine-induced versus infection-induced herd immunity
10.1 An effective vaccine requires fully equipped immune systems
10.2 Reaching herd immunity through vaccinations or infections?
10.3 Reaching herd immunity without creating pathogen variants