The Immune team explores the variable lymphocyte receptors of jawless vertebrates, a system of immunity that parallels the structurally unrelated antibodies of jawed vertebrates.
Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Stephanie Langel, and Cynthia Leifer
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Links for this episode
- Lamprey VLR response to influenza virus (eLife) 34:14
- VLR-based immunity (Ann Rev Immunol)
- How the Immune System Works 1:13:11
- A Commotion in the Blood 1:13:35
- Immune merchandise 1:05:34
- Image credit 34:53
- Letters read on Immune 9 51:27
Weekly Science Picks 1:20:05
Steph – Jon Yewdell on TWiV (208, 467)
Cindy – No polio in Venezuela
Vincent – Is gaming addiction a thing?
Music by Steve Neal. Immune logo image by Blausen Medical.
Send your immunology questions and comments to immune@microbe.tv
Dear Immune Team
Listening to BBC Radio Five last week I heard mention of a rare immune system reaction that I was previously unaware of – the abscopal effect. This is a reaction when localised high dose radiotherapy is given to a cancer patient and results not only in remission at the radiotherapy site but also at metastatic sites throughout the body, sometimes resulting in complete remission.
This has been known about since the 1950s but only recently has much progress been made in understanding the effect. The abscopal effect has been more frequently observed since the introduction of the immune checkpoint blocking antibodies Ipilimumab and pembrolizumab.
I think the abscopal effect would be an interesting topic for discussion on Immune.
I include links to some recent literature:
https://www.nature.com/articles/nrc.2018.6
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5346418/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4828732/
Greetings all,
Episode 9 included a discussion of introductory books about immunology. I recently read The Immune System: A Very Short Introduction by Paul Klenerman (Oxford University Press). Since immunology is far from my field (computers and education) I like these short introductions because they don’t take a long time to read. I also enjoyed Viruses: A Very Short Introduction by Dorothy H. Crawford for the same reason. I haven’t read the microbiology one and it seems there isn’t one on parasites.