Infectious Diseases and HIV Conference

The immune response has been defined as a complex and coordinated response produced by the body in relation to pathogens such as bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites. Knowledge of the immune response therefore provides information for effective disease prevention, diagnosis, and treatment.

This session explores the mechanisms, stages, and implications of the immune response in managing infectious diseases. There are essentially two broad categories of immune response: innate immunity and adaptive immunity. Innate immunity is the body's first line of defense against invasion by a pathogen; responses are relatively rapid but not specific.

This session will describe some key components of innate immunity, including physical barriers in the form of skin and mucous membranes, cells that can phagocytosis, and how cytokines provide signals that indicate activation of the immune response. The immune response involves several steps beginning with the recognition of pathogens.

This lecture will outline how the immune system recognizes pathogens and mounts a response through PRRs that identify PAMPs. Immune cells are activated as soon as pathogen recognition is made in this case, further recruitment of immune cells to the location is triggered. Educate participants on T and B cell roles within the adaptive immune response, clonal expansion, and effector and memory cell differentiation; discuss the role and regulation of cytokines within the immune response.

The regulation of the immune response significantly involves signaling molecules called cytokines. The course will relate to the different types of cytokines, including the pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory type, to their impact on immune cell communication and function.

Thus, participants will learn about the tragic occasion of cytokine storms induced by severe infections, such as COVID-19, and what that would imply for patient management and treatment. Immune memory is one of the key features of an immune response, which provides for a quick and effective response on re-exposure to an infection.

Vaccination, therefore, would imply some form of mechanism for inducing the generation of such an immune memory against infectious diseases, forming the theme of this session.

Accordingly, case studies from successful vaccines, such as measles, hepatitis B and influenza, are discussed, and the mechanisms that stimulate long-term immunity by such vaccines are explored. Despite the immunity, there are challenges, including evasion of immune response by pathogens and immunosuppression.

This session will delve into some of these challenges, the challenges posed by specific pathogens, including how HIV and tuberculosis avoid immunological detection and persist within the host, and new approaches toward enhancement of immune responses for infectious diseases.