Basic immunology : functions and disorders of the immune system / Abul K. Abbas, MBBS, Distinguished Professor in Pathology, Chair, Department of Pathology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, Andrew H. Lichtman, MD, PhD, Professor of Pathology, Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, Shiv Pillai, MBBS, PhD, Professor of Medicine and Health Sciences and Technology, Harvard Medical School, Ragon Institute of Massachusetts General Hospital, MIT and Harvard, Boston, Massachusetts ; Illustrations by David L. Baker, MA, Alexandra Baker, MS ,CMI DNA Illustrations, Inc..

Includes bibliographical references (pages 267-273) and index.

Introduction to the immune system : nomenclature, general properties, and components -- Innate immunity : the early defense against infections -- Antigen capture and presentation to lymphocytes : what lymphocytes see -- Antigen recognition in the adaptive immune system : structure of lymphocyte antigen receptors and development of immune repertoires -- T cell-mediated immunity : activation of t lymphocytes by cell-associated antigens -- Effector mechanisms of t cell-mediated immunity : functions of t cells in host defense -- Humoral immune responses : activation of b lymphocytes and production of antibodies -- Effector mechanisms of humoral immunity : elimination of extracellular microbes and toxins -- Immunological tolerance and autoimmunity : self-nonself discrimination in the immune system and its failure -- Immune responses against tumors and transplants : immunity to noninfectious transformed and foreign cells -- Hypersensitivity : disorders caused by immune responses -- Congenital and acquired immunodeficiencies : diseases caused by defective immunity.