Comparative Immunology

Comparative Immunology includes an evolutionary approach to immunity revealing the immune system as widespread and necessary for survival. Although many immunology textbooks and courses are often oriented solely toward medicine orallied professions, comparative immunology is a unique beginning for advanced undergraduate students of biology, zoology, and immunology. A more biologic approach to immune competence causes mammalian immunologists to view comparative immunology as an introduction to numerous ectothermic vertebrates and invertebrates. Such exotic animals are sources of meaningful facts important for anyone viewing significant breakthroughs in immunology in phylogenetic perspective. Animals preserve their unique individuality by distinguishing between self and non-self to protect against infection and possible extinction. The earliest beginnings of immune reactions are best exemplified among the invertebrates by recognition, phagocytosis, graft rejection accompanied by specificity and weak memory, and the induction of agglutinins and lectins. Although vertebrates share these same responses, the main differences include more extensive evidence of specificity and memory and the unique capacity to synthesize immunoglobulins. Acknowledging the problem of recognition as the common basis for the immune response, certain members of the Ig superfamily, notably Thy-1 and β2-microglobulin, will help our attempts to define evolutionary pressures that caused the development of immunity.