Timeline of immunology

Updated on Oct 01, 2024

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Timeline of immunology:

1549 – The earliest account of inoculation of smallpox (variolation) occurs in Wan Quan's (1499–1582) Douzhen Xinfa (痘疹心法).

1718 – Smallpox inoculation in Ottoman Empire realized by West. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, the wife of the British ambassador to Constantinople, observed the positive effects of variolation on the native population and had the technique performed on her own children.

1796 – First demonstration of smallpox vaccination (Edward Jenner)

1837 – Description of the role of microbes in putrefaction and fermentation (Theodore Schwann)

1838 – Confirmation of the role of yeast in fermentation of sugar to alcohol (Charles Cagniard-Latour)

1840 – Proposal of the germ theory of disease (Jakob Henle)

1850 – Demonstration of the contagious nature of puerperal fever (childbed fever) (Ignaz Semmelweis)

1857-1870 – Confirmation of the role of microbes in fermentation (Louis Pasteur)

1862 – Phagocytosis (Ernst Haeckel)

1867 – Aseptic practice in surgery using carbolic acid (Joseph Lister)

1876 – Demonstration that microbes can cause disease-anthrax (Robert Koch)

1877 – Mast cells (Paul Ehrlich)

1878 – Confirmation and popularization of the germ theory of disease (Louis Pasteur)

1880 – 1881 -Theory that bacterial virulence could be attenuated by culture in vitro and used as vaccines. Proposed that live attenuated microbes produced immunity by depleting host of vital trace nutrients. Used to make chicken cholera and anthrax "vaccines" (Louis Pasteur)

1883 – 1905 – Cellular theory of immunity via phagocytosis by macrophages and microphages (polymorhonuclear leukocytes) (Elie Metchnikoff)

1885 – Introduction of concept of a "therapeutic vaccination". Report of a live "attenuated" vaccine for rabies (Louis Pasteur).

1888 – Identification of bacterial toxins (diphtheria bacillus) (Pierre Roux and Alexandre Yersin)

1888 – Bactericidal action of blood (George Nuttall)

1890 – Demonstration of antibody activity against diphtheria and tetanus toxins. Beginning of humoral theory of immunity. (Emil von Behring) and (Kitasato Shibasaburō)

1891 – Demonstration of cutaneous (delayed type) hypersensitivity (Robert Koch)

1893 – Use of live bacteria and bacterial lysates to treat tumors-"Coley's Toxins" (William B. Coley)

1894 – Bacteriolysis (Richard Pfeiffer)

1896 – An antibacterial, heat-labile serum component (complement) is described (Jules Bordet)

1900 – Antibody formation theory (Paul Ehrlich)

1901 – Blood groups (Karl Landsteiner)

1902 – Immediate hypersensitivity anaphylaxis (Paul Portier) and (Charles Richet)

1903 – Intermediate hypersensitivity, the "Arthus reaction" (Maurice Arthus)

1903 – Opsonization

1905 – "Serum sickness" allergy (Clemens von Pirquet and (Bela Schick)

1909 – Paul Ehrlich proposes "immune surveillance" hypothesis of tumor recognition and eradication

1911 – 2nd demonstration of filterable agent that caused tumors (Peyton Rous)

1917 – Hapten (Karl Landsteiner)

1921 – Cutaneous allergic reactions (Otto Prausnitz and Heinz Küstner)

1924 – Reticuloendothelial system

1938 – Antigen-Antibody binding hypothesis (John Marrack)

1940 – Identification of the Rh antigens (Karl Landsteiner and Alexander Weiner)

1942 – Anaphylaxis (Karl Landsteiner and Merill Chase)

1942 – Adjuvants (Jules Freund and Katherine McDermott)

1944 – hypothesis of allograft rejection

1945 – Coombs Test a.k.a. antiglobulin test (AGT)

1946 – Identification of mouse MHC (H2) by George Snell and Peter A. Gorer

1948 – Antibody production in plasma B cells

1949 – Growth of polio virus in tissue culture, neutralization with immune sera, and demonstration of attenuation of neurovirulence with repetitive passage (John Enders) and (Thomas Weller) and (Frederick Robbins)

1951 – vaccine against yellow fever

1953 – Graft-versus-host disease

1953 – Validation of immunological tolerance hypothesis

1957 – Clonal selection theory (Frank Macfarlane Burnet)

1957 – Discovery of interferon by Alick Isaacs and Jean Lindenmann

1958–1962 – Discovery of human leukocyte antigens (Jean Dausset and others)

1959–1962 – Discovery of antibody structure (independently elucidated by Gerald Edelman and Rodney Porter)

1959 – Discovery of lymphocyte circulation (James Gowans)

1960 – Discovery of lymphocyte "blastogenic transformation" and proliferation in response to mitogenic lectins-phytohemagglutinin (PHA) (Peter Nowell)

1961-1962 Discovery of thymus involvement in cellular immunity (Jacques Miller)

1960- Radio immuno assay - (Rosalind Yallow)

1961- Demonstration that glucocorticoids inhibit PHA-induced lymphocyte proliferation (Peter Nowell)

1963 – Development of the plaque assay for the enumeration of antibody-forming cells in vitro by Niels Jerne and Albert Nordin

1963 Gell and Coombs classification of hypersensitivity

1964-1968 T and B cell cooperation in immune response

1965 – Discovery of lymphocyte mitogenic activity, "blastogenic factor" (Shinpei Kamakura) and (Louis Lowenstein) (J. Gordon) and (L.D. MacLean)

1965 – Discovery of "immune interferon" (gamma interferon) (E.F. Wheelock)

1965 – Secretory immunoglobulins

1967 – Identification of IgE as the reaginic antibody (Kimishige Ishizaka)

1968 – Passenger leukocytes identified as significant immunogens in allograft rejection (William L. Elkins and Ronald D. Guttmann)

1969 – The lymphocyte cytolysis Cr51 release assay (Theodore Brunner) and (Jean-Charles Cerottini)

1971 – Peter Perlmann and Eva Engvall at Stockholm University invented ELISA

1972 – Structure of the antibody molecule

1973 – Dendritic Cells first described by Ralph M. Steinman

1974 - Immune Network Hypothesis (Niels Jerne)

1974 – T-cell restriction to MHC (Rolf Zinkernagel and (Peter C. Doherty)

1975 – Generation of monoclonal antibodies (Georges Köhler) and (César Milstein)

1975 - Discovery of Natural Killer cells (Rolf Kiessling, Eva Klein, Hans Wigzell)

1976 – Identification of somatic recombination of immunoglobulin genes (Susumu Tonegawa)

1980-1983 – Discovery and characterization of interleukins, 1 and 2 IL-1 IL-2 (Robert Gallo, Kendall A. Smith, Tadatsugu Taniguchi)

1983 – Discovery of the T cell antigen receptor TCR (Ellis Reinherz) (Philippa Marrack) and (John Kappler) (James Allison)

1983 – Discovery of HIV (Luc Montagnier) (Françoise Barré-Sinoussi)

1985-1987 – Identification of genes for the T cell receptor

1986 – Hepatitis B vaccine produced by genetic engineering

1986 – Th1 vs Th2 model of T helper cell function (Timothy Mosmann)

1988 – Discovery of biochemical initiators of T-cell activation: CD4- and CD8-p56lck complexes (Christopher E. Rudd)

1990 – Gene therapy for SCID

1991 – Role of peptide for MHC Class II structure (Scheherazade Sadegh-Nasseri & Ronald N. Germain)

1992- Discovery of transitional B cells (David Allman & Michael Cancro)

1994 – 'Danger' model of immunological tolerance (Polly Matzinger)

1995 – James P. Allison describes the function of CTLA-4

1995 – Regulatory T cells (Shimon Sakaguchi)

1995 – First Dendritic cell vaccine trial reported by Mukherji et al.

1996 - 1998 – Identification of Toll-like receptors

2000 - Characterization of M1 and M2 macrophage subsets by Charles Mills

2001 – Discovery of FOXP3 – the gene directing regulatory T cell development

2005 – Development of human papillomavirus vaccine (Ian Frazer)

2006 - Antigen-specific NK cell memory first reported by Ulrich von Andrian's group after discovery by Mahmoud Goodarzi

2010 - The first autologous cell-based cancer vaccine, PROVENGE, is approved by the FDA for the treatment of metastatic, asymptomatic stage IV prostate cancer. The treatment is marketed at a cost of $93,000 and imparts, on average, only an extra four months of life expectancy. The manufacturer, Dendreon Inc, declares bankruptcy in 2014.

2010 – First immune checkpoint inhibitor, ipilimumab (anti-CTLA-4), is approved by the FDA for treatment of stage IV melanoma

2011 – Carl June reports first successful use of CAR T-cells for the treatment of CD19+ malignancies

2014 – A second class of immune checkpoint inhibitor (anti-PD-1) is approved by the FDA for the treatment of melanoma. Two different drugs, pembrolizumab and nivolumab are approved within months of each other.

2016 – Matthew M. Halpert first characterizes role of dendritic cell CTLA-4 in Th-1 immunity

2016 - A third class of immune checkpoint inhibitor, anti-PD-L1 (atezolizumab), is approved for the treatment of bladder cancer

References

Timeline of immunology Wikipedia

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