百年回眸:免疫学研究进展与医学

A Century Lookback: Advance of Immunology and Medicine

免疫学与医学有着紧密的联系。在免疫学的经验时期 ,中国医学家发明了人痘接种预防天花 ;1798年牛痘苗的发明 ,最终导致天花在地球上被消灭。在巴斯德时代 ,由于病原微生物的发现 ,人工主动免疫、人工被动免疫和三大血清学技术 (沉淀、凝集、补体结合反应 )使免疫学的应用扩大到对多种传染病的预防、诊断与治疗 ,极大地促进了医学的发展。 70年代以来 ,由于胸腺功能的发现 ,淋巴细胞功能的发现阐明了免疫系统的存在 ;克隆选择学说的建立奠定了现代免疫学的理论框架。近 30年来 ,免疫学的迅速发展主要表现在 :(1)对免疫系统结构与功能的认识进一步深入 ;(2 )神经—内分泌—免疫网络的发现 ,深化了对机体内环境稳定的认识 ;(3)免疫学向医学其它各学科的渗透产生了许多新的分支学科 ;(4 )促进了以单克隆抗体和细胞因子基因工程为标志的生物高技术产业的出现。所有这些都对现代医学的发展 。

There is a close relationship between immunology and medicine.In the experience period of immunology,ancient Chinese medicineman used smallpox inoculation to prevent smallpox followed by discovery of cowpox vaccination in 1798, which finally eradicated smallpox from the earth planet. In the Pasteur’s time of immunology, due to discovery of microorganisms,methods of active immuno-inoculation, passive immunotherapy, and three serological techniques (precipitation, agglutination and complement fixed reactions) were established. The application of immunology was expanded to prevention, diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases, which greatly accelerated the development of medical science. In the end of 1970’s, due to the identification of functions of lymphocyte and thymus, immune system was discovered. Furthermore, clonal selection theory was established as the paradigm of modern immunology. Over the past three decades, the main advances in immunology can be outlined as follows:(1)the understanding of structure and function of immune system was further deepened;(2)Renewing the view about mechanisms of homeostasis due to the discovery of neuro-endocrine-immunological network;(3)Due to the cross of immunology with other disciplines of medicine, some branch disciplines have been developed;(4)New biotechnology industry was born, which was marketed by monoclonal antibody technology and cytokine gene engineering. All the above advances of modern immunology have greatly impacted the development of modern medicine.