Basic Immunology for the Pediatrician

Abstract

One must be wondering why a chapter on players of the immune response is needed in a book on pediatric rheumatology. Pathology in most serious rheumatic diseases is driven by the immune system either by auto-inflammation or autoimmunity. Further, children with a deficient immune system, due to genetic defects, also present to pediatric rheumatologists with varying rheumatic manifestations. In the last decade all the advances in the management of juvenile idiopathic arthritis are due to the use of therapies, targeted at various immune mediators or cells. Thus, to have a good understanding of these aspects of pediatric rheumatology, one needs to be aware of the various cells and soluble mediators of the immune system. In addition knowledge of how a coordinated immune response is generated in response to infection and how it goes awry in autoimmune diseases as well as in auto-inflammatory syndromesis useful in understanding the clinical manifestations of the disease.