An-Najah National University

Faculty of Human Medicine

Department of Microbiology and Immunology

Basic Immunology
140434
Course Outline for Fall 2009

Course description
This course is designed to offer the essential information of basic immunology for medical
students to prepare them to the second step which is clinical immunology , taking into
consideration that the main aim is to prepare clinicians , i.e. to prepare the students to the clinical
sciences of immune mediated diseases, whether it is immune deficiency , auto inflammatory
diseases, auto immune diseases, allergic disorders including drug hypersensitivity, vaccination and
some aspects of laboratory related issues in clinical immunology, transplantation and transfusion
issues . The course ends with clinical scenarios and problems to test the ability of the students to
use the information provided in problem solving.

Lectures Topics
1- Basic concept in immunology (2 weeks)
a. Principle of innate and adaptive immunity
b. The effector mechanism of adaptive immunity
2- Innate immunology (2 weeks)
a. The front line of host defense
b. Pattern recognition in the innate immune system
c. The complement system and innate immunity
d. Induce innate responses to infection
3- Antigen recognition by B-Cell and T-cell (2 weeks)
a. The structure of a typical antibody
b. The interaction of the antibody molecule with specific antigen
c. Antigen recognition by T-cell
4- The generation of lymphocytes Antigen Receptors ( 2 weeks)
a. Primary immunoglobulin gene rearrangement
b. T-cell receptor gene rearrangement
c. Structural variation in immunoglobulin constant regions
d. Secondary diversification of antibody repertoire
5- Antigen Presentation to Lymphocytes ( 1week )
a. The generation of T-cell receptor ligands
b. The major histocompatibility complex and its functions
6- Signaling through immune system receptors (2 weeks)
a. General principles of signal transduction
b. Antigen receptor signaling and lymphocyte activation
c. Other receptor and signaling pathwyas
7- The development and survival of lymphocytes (2 weeks)
a. Development and survival of lymphocytes
b. T-cell development in the thymus
c. Positive and negative selection of T-cells
d. Survival and maturation of lymphocytes in peripheral lymphoid tissues
 8- T-Cell mediated immunity (1 week)
a. Entry of naïve T-cells and antigen-presenting cells into peripheral lymphoid organs
b. Priming of naïve T-cells by pathogen-activated dendritic cells
c. General properties of effector T-cells and their cytokines
d. T-cell-mediated cytotoxicity
e. Macrophage activation by Th1 cells

Instructor: Dr. Walid Basha

References: Janeway et al. Immunobiology the immune system in health and disease 7th Ed 2008

Grading:
2 Hour Exams 40%
Quizzes/Others 10%
Final Exam 50%