BIENVENIDOS AL CURSO DE INMUNOLOGIA.

... "In its bacteriological beginnings, immunology was highly successful in preventing or treating several major human diseases — smallpox, measles, mumps, rabies, anthrax, cholera, typhus, diphtheria and tetanus, to name but a few. Principally, these successes were responsible for establishing its reputation for extreme clinical relevance. In the periods that followed, immunology was far less triumphant in this regard. It identified a number of noninfectious diseases (such as autoimmune diseases and immunodeficiencies) as being of immunological etiology but it could provide no reliable therapies for them.  ... In terms of elucidating the mechanisms of immune response, immunology has been most successful in analyzing individual components in isolation at the genetic, molecular, cellular and even functional levels. It has been much less successful in explaining how the components integrate at higher levels to give rise to the reactions observable in vivo. Immunoglobulins, TCRs, MHC molecules, complement components, various cytokines, cell adhesion molecules, mediators and various receptors and other cell surface markers have all been characterized both structurally and functionally. It is also well established what happens to antigens in the body, how MHC molecules interact with TCRs, how antibodies are produced, how T and B cells differentiate, how complement components interact with one another and so on and so forth. Yet the mechanisms of tolerance, thymic selection, allograft reaction, fetal–maternal interaction, immunological memory, autoimmunity and a variety of allergic responses are still only partially understood".  Klein J.Immunology at the millennium: looking back.Curr Opin Immunol.1999 October; 11(5): 487 - 489.