Transcript Chapter 17
Chapter 17
Applications of Immune Responses
A Glimpse in History
• Chinese writings from the Sung Dynasty (AD
960-1280) indicate a process called
variolation, where small crusts of smallpox
pustules were inhaled or placed in a scratch
of the skin.
• The resulting disease was mild, but
permanent immunity developed.
• Variolation was common in China and the
Middle East as long as 1000 years ago, but
did not get popular in Europe until 1719.
• Yet, due to high costs, it was not used
commonly.
In 1796, Edward Jenner and others worked
together to spread the practice of
variolation.
Pasteur later changes the term to
vaccination to describe any type of
protective innoculation.
Immunization
• The process of inducing immunity to protect
against disease.
• Immunization has had the biggest impact on
human health of any medical procedure.
17.1 principles of immunization
• Naturally acquired immunity is the
acquisition of adaptive immunity from
normal events, such as exposure to an
infectious agent.
• Artificially acquired immunity is the result of
immunization, where the immune system
responds to the injection.
Active immunity – result of an immune system
response in an individual upon exposure to
antigen.
Passive immunity – occurs naturally during
pregnancy. The mothers IgG antibodies cross
the placenta to protect the fetus.
◦ These protect the baby in the first six months of life
◦ IgA is also found in breast milk and protects the
digestive tract.
◦ Unfortunately, this immunity does not form memory.
17.2 Vaccines and Immunization Procedures
• A vaccine is a preparation of a pathogen or
its products used to induce active immunity.
• Vaccines protect the individual as well as a
population by preventing spread of the
disease
– The phenomenon of herd immunity occurs when
a portion of the population is immune to a
disease,
Attenuated Vaccines
• A weakened form of the pathogen that is
generally unable to cause disease.
• The strain replicates in the recipient causing
an infection with a mild or undetectable
disease that usually results in long term
immunity.
• Include the vaccinations for measles,
mumps, rubella, yellow fever, and polio.
• Attenuated vaccines have several
advantages over inactivated ones:
– A single dose of attenuated vaccine is usually
enough to cause long-lasting immunity.
– It can also spread from the immunized person to
their contacts, thus inadvertently giving them
immunity.
• There are few disadvantages of these
vaccines:
– They can possibly cause disease in
immunosuppressed patients and can revert or
mutate to becoming pathogenic again.
– They require refrigeration to keep them active
Inactivated vaccines
• A pathogen that is unable to replicate, but
retains the immunogenicity of the infectious
agent or toxin.
• They cannot cause infection or revert to the
pathogenic form, so they do not cause as
magnified of an immune response.
• To compensate for the low effective dose,
many boosters may be needed.
Inactivated whole agent vaccines
Contain killed microorganisms or inactivated
viruses.
Vaccines are made by treating the infectious
agent with a chemical that does not
significantly change the contagion.
Such treatments leave the agent
immunogenic, but not able to reproduce.
Vaccines include those against cholera,
influenza, rabies, and the Salk Polio vaccine
Toxoids
• Inactivated toxins used to protect against
diseases due to toxins produced by invading
bacteria.
• The toxins are treated to destroy the toxic
part of the molecule while maintaining the
antigenic sites.
• Vaccines of this type include those for
diphtheria and tetanus.
Protein Subunit vaccines
• Composed of key protein antigens or
antigenic fragments of the infectious agent
rather than the whole cell or virus.
• They can only be developed after research
reveals which component of the microbe
causes the immune response.
• Killed vaccines are known for causing side
effects that can include pain, tenderness at
the injection site, fever, and occasionally
convulsions.
• A subunit vaccine does not cause these side
effects.
• Examples of this type include the hepatitis B
vaccine and the acellular pertussis vaccine.
Polysaccharide vaccines
Composed of the polysaccharides that make
up the capsule of certain organisms.
Conjugate vaccines intentionally convert
polysaccharides into T dependent antigens
by linking the polysaccharides to proteins.
Examples include the Haemophilus
influenza type b (which has nearly
eliminated meningitis in children) and a
vaccine for Streptococcus pneumonia.
• Many inactivated viruses include adjuvant,
which is a substance that enhances the
immune response to antigens.
The importance of routine
immunizations for children
• Before vaccinations, children died of
common childhood diseases; those who
did not die could be permanently disabled.
• One reason some children are not
vaccinated is because their parents refuse
to have them treated due to rare instances
where the vaccine causes harm.
• While there is always risk associated with
any medical procedure, the risks of vaccines
are very low; and the benefits of vaccines far
outweigh the risks.
Current Progress in immunization
• Due to a better understanding of immunity,
great progress is being made.
• An understanding of the immune response
can lead to the development of more
effective vaccines.
• New types of vaccines are being studied:
peptide vaccines, edible vaccines, and DNA
based vaccines are all being studied.
• Peptide are made of antigenic peptides from
disease-causing organisms. They are heat
stable and do not contain materials that
cause unwanted side effects
• Edible vaccines are created by transferring
genes encoding the antigens of an organism
into a plant.
– If produced, they could be grown in many parts
of the world, therefore eliminating problems of
storage and transport.
• DNA based vaccines are segments of naked
DNA from infectious agents that can be
directly introduced into muscles.
– The host tissues expresses the DNA briefly,
producing microbial agents encoded by the DNA
which causes an immune response.
Vaccine Descriptions:
HEPB: PROTECTS AGAINST HEPATITIS B
DTAP: A COMBINED VACCINE THAT PROTECTS AGAINST DIPHTHERIA, TETANUS,
AND PERTUSSIS (WHOOPING COUGH)
HIB: PROTECTS AGAINST HAEMOPHILUS INFLUENZAE TYPE B
PCV: PROTECTS AGAINST PNEUMOCOCCAL DISEASE
POLIO: PROTECTS AGAINST POLIO, THE VACCINE IS ALSO KNOWN AS IPV
RV: PROTECTS AGAINST INFECTIONS CAUSED BY ROTAVIRUS
INFLUENZA: PROTECTS AGAINST INFLUENZA (FLU)
MMR: PROTECTS AGAINST MEASLES, MUMPS, AND RUBELLA (GERMAN
MEASLES)
VARICELLA: PROTECTS AGAINST VARICELLA, ALSO KNOWN AS CHICKENPOX
HEPA: PROTECTS AGAINST HEPATITIS A
Works Cited
• Nester, Anderson, Roberts and Nester.
Microbiology: A Human Perspective.
• Tortora, Funke, and Case. Microbiology: An
Introduction.
• http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/parents/rec-izbabies.html