IMMUNOLOGY
- Overview
- Assessment methods
- Learning objectives
- Contents
- Full programme
- Teaching methods
- Contacts/Info
General scientific and biological knowledge of High school.
Moreover, the teachings of the first year, particularly Biochemistry and Anatomy, will be useful to better understand the themes of the course.
Written text consisting in 34 multiple-choice questions to be solved in 40 minutes. A point is awarded for each correct answer, while no points are awarded for missing or incorrect answers. The minimum score to pass the test is 18 points. No points will be deducted for incorrect answers.
If the exam will be made not in presence, it will be consisted in a Quiz of 15 multiple-choice questions to be solved in 15 minutes, delivered by the Moodle platform. The questions will be related to the program of the teaching of C.I., define the knowledge and understanding (35%), the ability to apply knowledge and understanding (25%), their independent judgment (10%), comunication skills (10%) and the ability to learn (20%) in relation to matters in C.I. One final grade for C.I.
The exam will be made available to the student for inspection within 10 days of its delivery and will then be definitively archived.
Students will learn the molecular and cellular mechanisms of the immune system. The course will focus on the innate and adaptive immunity, mechanism of antigen presentation, and activation of effectors immune cells. Special emphasis will be given to the immune mechanisms at the basis of pathologies, such as immunodeficiency. Given the importance that immunotherapy has acquired in the last decade in the field of tumors, topics of anti-tumor immunotherapy will be addressed through lectures and seminars, highlighting the new therapies and their effectiveness in the field of different types of tumor.
The course aims to define all aspects of the immune system, with particular attention to the experimental basis useful to outline all the postulates of the immune response. The basic aspects of the immune system will be treated in a systematic way: cells and tissues of the immune system, innate immunity and effector mechanisms of innate immunity; adaptive immunity, antigen processing and presentation, effector mechanisms of adaptive immunity, ontogenesis and activation of B and T lymphocytes, immunological tolerance. It will also provide information on the experimental systems used for the study of an immunological process and on the techniques based on antigen-antibody reactions. Emphasis will be given to the application of immunological techniques in therapy (monoclonal antibodies, CAR-T cells, etc.)
General topics of the immune responses: innate and adaptive immunity. Cells of the adaptive and innate immune response.
Immune cells: Origin, maturation and function
Lymphoid tissues: their role in the immune response.
Antigens: definition and properties. Antibodies: properties, structure and function of the different subclasses. Production of monoclonal antibodies and their applications.
Activation, proliferation and development of B cells. Kinetics of primary and secondary immune response.
Innate immunity: innate receptors; NK cells
The complement system: the different routes and their functions.
The MHC complex: structure, and its function in the recognition, processing and presentation of antigens: antigen presenting cells (APC).
T lymphocytes: T cell receptor (TCR), structure and function. The CD3 complex. Activation, proliferation and death of T lymphocytes. Maturation of T lymphocytes in the thymus (negative and positive selection). CD markers and co-stimulatory molecules. Subpopulations of T lymphocytes and their function (T regulatory cells).
Effector mechanisms of adaptive immune response. CTL: mechanisms of cytotoxicity, ADCC.
Cytokines: structure and function of the cytokines and their receptors.
Mechanisms of Tollerance
The aims of the course will be achieved through lectures for a total of 40
hours to which are added 10 hours of supplementary teaching, for the deepening of a topic of interest chosen in agreement with the students (examples: HIV infection; Checkpoint inhibitors, CAR-T-cells). In this context, a seminar will also be organized in collaboration with the AIRC campus, managed by an external teacher and mainly focused on anticancer immunotherapy. The class attendance is mandatory.
Office hours previous appointment by e-mail (greta.forlani@uninsubria.it) at Laboratories of General Pathology and Immunology “Giovanna Tosi”, Pad. Biffi, via O.rossi 9, Varese.