immunology step by step

Anyone who has had the good fortune to hear an orchestra brilliantly perform a symphony composed by one of the great masters knows that each of the carefully tuned musical instruments contributes to the collective, harmonious sound

produced by the musicians. In many ways, the normally tuned immune system continuously plays an orchestrated

symphony to maintain homeostasis.

The immune system is a “team effort,” involving many different players. These players can be divided roughly into two groups: those that are members of the innate immune system team and those that are part of the adaptive immune system. Importantly, these two groups work together to provide a powerful defense against invaders.

Immunology is a difficult subject for several reasons. First, there are lots of details, and sometimes these details get in

the way of understanding the concepts. To get around this problem, we’re going to concentrate on the big picture. It

will be easy for you to find the details somewhere else. Another difficulty in learning immunology is that there

is an exception to every rule. Immunologists love these exceptions, because they give clues as to how the immune

system functions. But for now, we’re just going to learn the rules. Oh sure, we’ll come upon exceptions from time

to time, but we won’t dwell on them. Our goal is to exam-ine the immune system, stripped to its essence.

A third difficulty in studying immunology is that our knowledge of the immune system is still evolving. As

you’ll see, there are many unanswered questions, and some of the things that seem true today will be proven

false tomorrow.