Your Immune System: The Amazing Science of Who You Are

The science behind the extraordinary system that keeps you healthy every day.

The immune system―a network of cells, molecules, and organs working together to defend us―is one of nature's most intricate and awe-inspiring achievements. Your Immune System offers readers an illuminating tour of this vital realm, guided by an accomplished physician-scientist whose career has been devoted to understanding its extraordinary power.

Gary A. Koretzky, MD, PhD, explains the fundamental principles that make immunity possible: the cells that sense and respond to danger, the two arms of the immune system that provide rapid and lasting protection, and the language that allows these components to communicate with precision. He explains how vaccination became humanity's first and most effective means of using immune knowledge to promote health and prevent disease. But what happens when immunity falters or misfires? Koretzky explores immunodeficiencies, in which defenses fail to activate; allergies, when the body mistakes harmless substances for threats; and autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, and Myasthenia Gravis, where self-recognition goes tragically awry.

Your Immune System outlines why these conditions arise and why they persist as one of medicine's greatest challenges. Koretzky connects the biological foundation of immunity to modern breakthroughs in diagnosis and therapy that are reshaping the treatment of cancer, autoimmune disorders, and infectious disease. An accessible introduction to the elegance of the immune system, this book invites readers to appreciate the marvel of the body's most complex―and indispensable―protector.

Gary A. Koretzky, MD, PhD, is an emeritus professor of medicine at Weill Cornell Medical and an emeritus professor of microbiology and immunology at the Cornell College of Veterinary Medicine.