BookEdwin L. Cooper, editor.
Summary: Immunologists, perhaps understandably, most often concentrate on the human immune system, an anthropocentric focus that has resulted in a dearth of information about the immune function of all other species within the animal kingdom. However, knowledge of animal immune function could help not only to better understand human immunology, but perhaps more importantly, it could help to treat and avoid the blights that affect animals, which consequently affect humans. Take for example the mass death of honeybees in recent years - their demise, resulting in much less pollination, poses a serious threat to numerous crops, and thus the food supply. There is a similar disappearance of frogs internationally, signaling ecological problems, among them fungal infections. This book aims to fill this void by describing and discussing what is known about non-human immunology. It covers various major animal phyla, its chapters organized in a progression from the simplest unicellular organisms to the most complex vertebrates, mammals. Chapters are written by experts, covering the latest findings and new research being conducted about each phylum. Edwin L. Cooper is a Distinguished Professor in the Laboratory of Comparative Immunology, Department of Neurobiology at UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine.
Contents:
Intro; Preface; Acknowledgments and Reminiscences; Advances in Comparative Immunology Introduction; Why Study Comparative Immunology?; 2018: Evaluating the Impact of Comparative Immunology; Distinct Periods in Conceptualizing Comparative Immunology; Retrospective Look at Comparative Immunology; Egyptians' Discovery of Inflammation in Ancient Humans; Advent of the Modern Era: Élie Metchnikoff; Leo Loeb: The Biological Basis of Individuality
Emergence of Self/Nonself; 1960-1980; 1980-Present; What Hath Comparative Immunology Wrought?; Additional Reading List; Pre-1890 Phenomena. 1890s to 1950s1960s & 1970s; 1980s; 1990s; 2000s; Contents; Contributors; Part I: From Prokaryotes to Urochordates; Evolution of Immunity; History; The Pillars of Immunity; Processes; Evolutionary Lineages in a Diversity of Functions; Recognition of Self/Non-self; Immunological Memory; Cell-to-Cell Signaling; Pathogen Recognition Receptors; Immunoglobulins as Humoral Effector Mechanisms; Complement Factors as Humoral Effector Mechanisms; Lectins, Fibrinogen-Related Peptides, and Antimicrobial Peptides as Humoral Effector Mechanisms; Other Humoral Effector Mechanisms. Cellular Effector MechanismsDiversity of Immune Reactions; Applied Aspects of Immune System Evolution; References; Allorecognition and Innate Immunity in the Dictyostelid Social Amoebae; Introduction; Phylogeny of Multicellular Eukaryotes; Homology or Convergent "Assembly of Parts" From an Ancestral Proteome; Allorecognition and the Stabilization of Cell Cooperation; Amoebae Versus Bacteria; Amoebal Innate Immunity; The Microbiome of the Social Amoeba; Summary; References; Cnidaria: Anthozoans in the Hot Seat; Introduction; Anthozoan Innate Immunity; The Mucosal Epithelia. Effector Responses: Activation and SignalingImmune Cells, Phagocytosis, and Wound Healing; The Melanin Synthesis Pathways; Coagulation; Antimicrobial Activity; Apoptosis; Reactive Species; Antioxidants; Heat Shock Proteins; Fluorescent Proteins; Ecological Immunity: Focus on Scleractinian Corals; Immunity, Climate Change, and Conservation of Scleractinian Corals; Conclusion; References; Platyhelminthes: Molecular Dissection of the Planarian Innate Immune System; Introduction; The Planarian Model System; The Mucous Barrier; Pattern Recognition Receptors; Phagocytic Cells; Complement. The Planarian Microbiome Contributes to Innate ImmunityFinal Remarks; References; Nematoda: The Caenorhabditis elegans Model for Innate Immunity
Interactions Between Worms and Pathogens, and Their Responses to Immunogenic Damage; Introduction; Signaling Pathways in the Caenorhabditis elegans Innate Immune Response; The p38/PMK-1 Signaling Pathway; The ERK/MPK-1 Signaling Pathway; Insulin-Like Signaling (DAF-16 and DAF-2); The DBL-1 Signaling Pathway; The C. elegans Viral Defense Strategy; Neuronal Regulation of Immunity; The Interface Between Innate Immunity and DNA Damage; Missing Links.