History and development of immunology by Akash.M.P, M.Sc Microbiology, Sri Paramakalyani College.

1. HISTORY AND
DEVELOPMENT OF
IMMUNOLOGY
Akash.M.P
1 st M.Sc., Microbiology
Sri Paramakalyani College.

2. WHAT
IS
IMMUNOLOGY
?
Immunology is a branch of medicine and
biology that covers the medical study of
immune systems in humans, animals and
plants. In such we can see there is a
difference of human immunology and
comparative immunology in veterinary
medicine and animal biosciences.
Immunology is a relatively new science. Its origin is usually
attributed to Edward Jenner, who discovered in 1796 that
cowpox,or vaccinia, induced protection against human smallpox,
an often fatal disease. Jenner called his procedure vaccination, and
this term is still used to describe the inoculation of healthy
individuals with weakened or attenuated strains of disease-causing
agents to provide protection from disease.

3. In 1798, Edward Jenner, noticed that milkmaids were protected from smallpox if they had
been first infected with cowpox . It was not his intention to make medical history, as his
interests were mostly scholarly and involved the transfer of infections from one species to
another, especially from animals to humans. However, Jenner's work led him to the
conclusion, that inoculation with cowpox (a bovine analogue of smallpox) could confer
immunity to smallpox. Thus, the concept of vaccination was initiated. (Incidentally, the Latin
word for cow is vacca ). Jenner's ideas first made him a medical as well as a social pariah,
as they were in opposition to both the church and popular beliefs. Because his method was
much safer then variolation, however, the use of vaccinations gradually became widely
accepted and most European countries had some form of compulsory program within fifty
years of Jenner's discovery.

4. ANTONI VAN LEEUWENHOEK
Initially, Antoni van Leeuwenhoek 's development of the
microscope.
LOUIS PASTEUR
developed his germ theory of disease and he was the
first to isolate the organisms that caused the
fermentation process and the development of
pasteurization (heating) as a means of halting
fermentation. He went on to develop an attenuated
vaccine against rabies and swine erysipelas.
ROBERT KOCH
In 1882, Koch was able to demonstrate that the germ
theory of disease "Koch's postulates", when he isolated
the microbe that caused tuberculosis
ANTONI VAN
LEEUWENHOEK

5. NOBEL
PRIZE
WINNERS
IN
THE
FIELD
OF
IMMUNOLOGY
1908 - Paul Ehrlich - Theories of Immunity
1908 - Metchnikoff - Phagocytosis
1913 - Richet - Anaphylaxis
1919 - Bordet - Immunity
1930 - Land Steiner - Blood group
1960 - Bordet and Medawar - Immunological tolerance
1972 - Edelman and Porter - Nature and structure of antibody
1977 - Yalow - Radio immuno assays
1980 - Benacerrat, Snail Dauset - MHC genes and transplantation
1984 - Milstein, Kohler, Jerne Jerne - Monoclonal antibody, Idiotypic
hypothesis
1987 - Susumu Tonegawa - Genetics of antibody production
1990 - Murray and Thomas - Use of immunosuppressive drugs in
transplantation
1996 - Doherty and Zinkernagel - Recognition of viruses by immune system

6. 1798 Edward Jenner initiates smallpox vaccination.
1877 Paul Erlich recognizes mast cells.
1879 Louis Pasteur develops an attenuated chicken cholera
vaccine.
1883 Elie Metchnikoff develops cellular theory of
vaccination.
1885 Louis Pasteur develops rabies vaccine.
1891 Robert Koch explored delayed type hypersensitivity.
1900 Paul Erlich theorizes specific antibody formation.
1906 Clemens von Pirquet coined the word allergy.
1938 John Marrack formulates antigen-antibody binding
hypothesis.
1942 Jules Freund and Katherine McDermott research
adjuvants
MILESTONES

7. 1949 Macfarlane Burnet & Frank Fenner formulate
immunological tolerance hypothesis.
1959 Niels Jerne, David Talmage, Macfarlane Burnet
develop clonal selection theory.
1957 Alick Isaacs & Jean Lindemann discover interferon
(cytokine).
1962 Rodney Porter and team discovery the structure of
antibodies.
1962 Jaques Miller and team discover thymus involvement
in cellular immunity.
1962 Noel Warner and team distinguish between cellular
and humoral immune responses.
1968 Anthony Davis and team discover T cell and B cell
cooperation in immune response.
1974 Rolf Zinkernagel and Peter Doherty explore major
histocompatibility complex restriction.
MILESTONES

8. 1985 Susumu Tonegawa, Leroy Hood, and team identify
immunoglobulin genes.
1987 Leroy Hood and team identify genes for the T cell
receptor.
1985 Scientists begin the rapid identification of genes for
immune cells that continues to the present.
1986 – Hepatitis B vaccine produced by genetic
engineering
1986 – Th1 vs Th2 model of T helper cell function (Timothy
Mosmann)
1988 – Discovery of biochemical initiators of T-cell
activation: CD4- and CD8-p56lck complexes (Christopher E.
Rudd)
1990 – Gene therapy for SCID
1991 – Role of peptide for MHC Class II structure
(Scheherazade Sadegh-Nasseri & Ronald N. Germain)
MILESTONES

9. 1992 – Discovery of transitional B cells (David Allman & Michael
Cancro)[13][14]
1994 – Danger model of immunological tolerance (Polly
Matzinger)
1995 – James P. Allison describes the function of CTLA-4
1995 – Regulatory T cells (Shimon Sakaguchi)
1995 – First Dendritic cell vaccine trial reported by Mukherji et al.
1996 – 1998 – Identification of Toll-like receptors
1997 – Discovery of the autoimmune regulator and the AIRE
gene.
2000 – Characterization of M1 and M2 macrophage subsets by
Charles Mills[15]
2001 – Discovery of FOXP3 – the gene directing regulatory T cell
development
2005 – Development of human papillomavirus vaccine (Ian
Frazer)
MILESTONES

10. 2006 – Antigen-specific NK cell memory first reported by Ulrich
von Andrian's group after discovery by Mahmoud Goodarzi
2010 – The first autologous cell-based cancer vaccine, provenge,
is approved by the FDA for the treatment of metastatic,
asymptomatic stage IV prostate cancer.
2010 – First immune checkpoint inhibitor, ipilimumab (anti-CTLA-
4), is approved by the FDA for treatment of stage IV melanoma
2011 – Carl H. June reports first successful use of CAR T-cells
expressing the 4-1BB costimulatory signaling domain for the
treatment of CD19+ malignancies
2014 – A second class of immune checkpoint inhibitor (anti-PD-1)
is approved by the FDA for the treatment of melanoma.
Pembrolizumab and nivolumab are approved within months of
each other.
MILESTONES

11. 2016 – Halpert and Konduri first characterize the role of dendritic
cell CTLA-4 in Th immune polarization
2016 – A third class of immune checkpoint inhibitor, anti-PD-L1
(atezolizumab), is approved for the treatment of bladder cancer
2017 – First autologous CAR T-cell therapy tisagenlecleucel
approved for the treatment of pediatric B-ALL; second
autologous CAR T-cell therapy axicabtagene ciloleucel (Yescarta)
is approved.
2020 – The first mRNA vaccines (BNT162b2, mRNA-1273), are
developed for SARS-CoV-2 infection; this new technology
completed design, testing, and emergency approval in under one
year.
MILESTONES