Abstract: The immune system is the only thing standing between us and a world of microbial predators that could send us to an early and ugly death. It would be our only defense during the first hours of a bioterrorist attack using some of these very microbes. Evolved over millions of years of to keep us alive long enough to reproduce, the immune system has developed an impressive armamentarium of powerful chemical and cellular weapons that make short work of hostile viruses and bacteria. It has also evolved amazing genetic strategies to keep pace with invading microbes that can reproduce — and thus alter their genetic blueprint — in under an hour. But this same system prevents us from accepting life-saving organ transplants. It is also capable of over-reacting, leading to immunopathologies and causing serious, even lethal, damage to our tissues and organs. Worse yet, our immune systems may decide we ourselves are foreign and attack otherwise healthy tissues, resulting in autoimmune disease. And finally, it is itself the target of one of the most deadly viruses humans have ever known: HIV, the agent of AIDS. Part I of this book describes the structure and function of the immune system at a biological and biochemical level. Part II examines the role of the immune system in a range of human diseases — many caused by the immune system itself.

Keywords: innate immunity, AIDS, allergy, autoimmunity, bioterrorism, cancer, immunopathology, infectious disease, transplantation, vaccines