ALMA NOVOTNY: Hello.
I'm Alma Novotny, inviting you
to join me for Fundamentals
of Immunology, death by friendly fire.
Here I am again, standing with
my mobile airborne pathogens.
Hey, wait a minute,
these aren't pathogens.
I'm being menaced by my own cells
and antibodies and plasma and DNA.
My own immune system is turning on me.
The immune system, both
adaptive and innate,
forms an incredibly
powerful set of defenses.
And with power comes danger.
Excess fat cells lead
to chronic inflammation.
Chronic inflammation may cause
red blood cells and platelets
to clog your arteries.
Your T-cells may coordinate
an attack on your own tissues.
You may make antibodies that
bind to your own proteins.
You can wind up with an
autoimmune disease which
can attack many of your cells and
organs, the beta cells of the pancreas
in diabetes the myelin cotes
around nerve cell axons in MS,
and sadly, many more.
The immune system has two
faces, an aspect of protection
and an aspect of threat.
In this course, we will see how we
keep your immune system directed
at your enemies and not
at your own tissues.
We will then describe what happens
when the immune system attacks
harmless cells or even your own cells.
Join us for Fundamentals of
Immunology, death by friendly fire.
If you want to know more about immune
tolerance, allergy, autoimmunity,
and protecting your
transplanted organs, you
will come out of this course
with the basics that you need.
