MedInTO Medicine and Surgery

Basic Pathology and Immunology

Basic Pathology and Immunology

Academic year 2024/2025

Sommario del corso

• Course objectives
• Results of learning outcomes
• Program
• Course delivery
• Learning assessment methods
• Support activities
• Suggested readings and bibliography
• Notes
• Teaching Modules
• Teaching tools
• Course card

Course objectives

The course will be divided into two main subjects: Immunology and Basic Pathology

Immunology objectives: The module, which is part of the mandatory credits, contributes to the achievement of the educational objective of the Master's Degree in Medicine and Surgery. An understanding of the immune system is central to the understanding of how the body interacts with its surroundings, and how it both protects itself and responds to infectious disease. The course leads the student through both innate and adaptive immunity, how infection is detected, and how the cells of the immune system interact to generate a response. The mechanisms underlying allergy and hypersensitivity and the immune response to tumours are also provided. The aim is to provide the understanding of the essential aspects of immunity required to understand immunological diseases, investigations and treatment.

General Pathology objectives: this part of the course will provide molecular basis for understanding causes, mechanisms and evolution of human diseases. Main processes such as cell death, inflammation, environmental pathologies and genetic diseases, which are fundamental for understanding disease development and progression, will be considered. A group of lessons will be dedicated to oncology for understanding biomolecular mechanisms involved in tumor development and growth, as well as becoming familiar with tumor nomenclature and classification.

BASIC IMMUNOLOGY MODULE:

The students must register on the Moodle course Basic Immunology at https://biotec.i-learn.unito.it/course/view.php?id=1494

The lectures and "learning insights" will be made available on that site.

Results of learning outcomes

KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING

Students will achieve knowledge on fundamental  mechanisms of damage and disease processes regarding the impairment of tissue homeostasis, inflammatory responses, genetic disorders and cancer development and progression. This knowledge is essential for a correct application on the different phases of the diseases (diagnosis/prognosis, therapy and prevention) in the next clinical courses.

In particular, regarding immune responses, students will achieve an integrated knowledge and comprehension  of the immune system and its mechanisms of action, of the role played by its components in health and disease. They will be able to understand the main cellular and molecular mechanisms by which the immune system contributes to the prevention, healing, and interplay with cellular and tissue responses that can lead to disease development in human pathology.

All of the knowledge in both modules are essential for a correct application on the different phases of the diseases (diagnosis/prognosis, therapy and prevention) in the next clinical courses.

APPLYING KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING

The student will have to demonstrate the ability to apply theoretical knowledge to understand the patient's pathology in order to provide the basis for the clinical correct diagnosis and/or therapy.

INDEPENDENT JUDGEMENT

Ability to identify the information necessary to understand the type of pathology and propose possible solutions in relation to the concepts learned even on the basis of diagnostic and laboratory prescriptions.

Students will acquire the capability of critically analyzing scientific results and data from the scientific literature.

COMMUNICATION SKILLS

To demonstrate the ability to communicate in a clear and simple way their knowledge and skills (possibly with the processing of written texts or explanatory iconographic material).

LEARNING SKILLS

• ability to study independently, develop the ability to ask appropriate and pertinent questions trying, through reasoning, to clarify and solve them,
• reflect on your learning path by demonstrating that you know how to grasp strengths and weaknesses,
• identify effective attitudes to improve one's performance.

Program

GENERAL PATHOLOGY

• Tissue damage: adaptation conditions (hypertrophy, hyperplasia, atrophy, regression, metaplasia)
• Cell death: morphological, biochemical and molecular aspects of necrosis and apoptosis.
• Acute inflammation (Angiophlogosis): vascular and cellular events, exudate formation, inflammatory mediators (fluid phase and cellular mediators)
• Chronic inflammation (Histophlogosis): Classification and mechanism of unspecific and specific (granulomas) types of chronic inflammation
• Wound healing: tissue regeneration and repair
• Environmental causes of injury: physical (extreme temperatures and pressures; ionizing and non-ionizing radiation)
• Hyperthermia with/without fever: causes, mechanisms, stages and classification
• Genetic disorders: pathogenesis of different dominant/recessive disorders
• Oncology:
  • Definition of neoplasia. The neoplastic multiphasic process
  • Neoplastic proliferation - Oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes
  • Cancer growth and invasiveness: molecular mechanisms of tumor infiltration and angiogenesis, epithelial-mesenchymal transition
  • Tumor metastases - principal routes of cancer spreading
  • Inflammation and cancer
  • Epidemiology and classification of tumors. Tumor grading and staging
  • Cancer etiology: chemical, physical, biological and genetic causes
  • Tumor metabolism and cachexia
  • Hereditary cancers
  • Paraneoplastic syndroms

IMMUNOLOGY

• Overview of the immune system
• The natural immune response. The pattern recognition receptors and their ligands.
• The cytokine network.
• The complement system: activation and effector functions
• The Major Histocompatibility Complex: genomic organization and polymorphisms. Antigen presentation to T cells.
• Cells of the adaptive immune response.
• The T cell receptor. Thymic education and antigen recognition by T cells. T cell activation and effector mechanisms.
• B cells. The generation of antibodies diversity. T and B cell cooperation. Antibody production. AID and its role in class switching and somatic hypermutation. Molecular structure and effector functions of antibodies.
• Functional anatomy of the immune system
• Self-tolerance and tolerance induction to exogenous antigens.
• Hypersensitivity and Autoimmunity.
• Basic concepts in tumour immunology and immunotherapy.

Course delivery

For the General Pathology module will be provided through lessons onsite  and slides will be uploaded on both Moodle platform and Campusnet website.

• Exercises for Basic Pathology: in order to clarify principal lesson topics, exercises/quizzes and deepening lectures will be provided; exercise activities consist of microscopic observations of pathological tissue specimens. Seminars may be provided in order to give deep information and improve lesson topics.

For the Basic Immunology module, exercises (multiple-choice, true-false, and matching questions; immunology-based problems and case studies) will be proposed to the students to test their understanding of the topic covered during the lectures. In addition, some "Learning insights" will be proposed on Vaccines, Autoimmunity, Immunodeficiency, and Tumor Immunology.

Students are also required to work in groups to collaboratively build a glossary on Moodle with the keywords of the Basic Immunology course.

BASIC IMMUNOLOGY MODULE:

The students must register on the Moodle course Basic Immunology at https://biotec.i-learn.unito.it/course/view.php?id=1494

The lectures and "learning insights" will be made available on that site. Similarlu, tests for students' learning autoevaluation and a collaboratory glossary will be found on the same website.

Learning assessment methods

• Basic Immunology module: written test (in presence through the Moodle platform). It will last 27 minutes and include 33 (multiple-choice, true/false, matching) questions. For each correctly answered question, +1; for blank or incorrectly answered questions, 0. A total score of >30.5 points will correspond to 30 cum laude.  
• General Pathology module: oral exam (in presence); the exam consists in 2-3 questions. The module mark is expressed in thirtieths. Oral exams are public, so  students are free to be present and listen the exams. 

The final mark (including General Pathology and Immunology modules) will be expressed in thirtieths and will be the weighted media between Basic Immunology module (4 CFU) and General Pathology module (6 CFU).

The student will receive an e-mail in order to officially accept or not the final mark (weighted media).

Support activities

• General Pathology - Teachers are available to provide papers on topics covered in class  to support the student study.
• Basic Immunology - For those that show gross deficiencies in the prerequisites, support is offered individually or in small groups outside lesson. Updated reviews (mainly from Nature Reviews Immunology) on topics covered in class will be provided for those students that want to deepen their knowledge in the field.

Basic Immunology 

• Janeway's Immunobiology, Tenth edition, K Murphy, W.W. Norton & Company;
• The Immune System, Fourth Edition, P Parham, Garland Science

Notes

For the BASIC IMMUNOLOGY MODULE only: https://biotec.i-learn.unito.it/course/view.php?id=1494

The lectures, "learning insights" and tests will be made available on that site.

Students with DSA or disabilities are kindly requested to take note of the reception services and support services offered by the University of Turin, and in particular of the procedures required for exam support.

Teaching Modules

• Basic pathology and immunology - Module of General pathology (SCB0205A)
• Basic pathology and immunology - Module of Immunology (SCB0205B)

• Teaching material
• Exams and finals
• Class schedule
• Go to Moodle
• Register for the course
• Enrolled students
• Invia email agli studenti registrati
• Export table