Developmental Immunology: Clinical Problems and Aging

This fine book contains the proceedings of the 1981 UCLA Forum in Medical Sciences Symposium. The purpose of the symposium was to gather experts to explore, in depth, selected areas of the field of developmental immunology and to relate these topics to disease processes and to aging. The five areas concentrated upon are immunoglobulin genes, immunorecognition and evolution of receptors, ontogeny and stem cells, immunopathology of the immune system, and aging of the immune system. The introductory section contains a lively and imaginative explanation of how and why the mammalian immune system developed, pointing out the consequences of immunological foresight and reasons for the development of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC). The immune capabilities of various organisms throughout the phylogenetic tree are compared, and the role of the MHC in those responses is discussed. Researchers and students of molecular genetics will find the next section stimulating. Here, the focus is