Immunity "Super" Introduction: The Amazing System That Also Holds the Key to "Cancer," "Aging," and the "Brain"

2024/02/20

The word "immunity" has rapidly become popular over the last few years. On train advertisements, one often sees things like "supplements to boost immunity," and programs like Chico-chan's "National Unified Immunity Measure Test" are being broadcast. Why have Japanese people suddenly become interested in "immunity"? Naturally, it seems that COVID-19 has had a strong influence. Interest in vaccines is also high, and their strong side effects, along with their effectiveness, have become a topic of conversation.

Immunity, as the characters suggest, means "escaping pestilence"—in other words, it is our body's system for countering infectious diseases. One might tend to think that the stronger such a grateful defense system is, the better. Indeed, the antibodies discovered by Shibasaburo Kitasato are currently used as therapeutic agents for various diseases, and Professor Tasuku Honjo won the Nobel Prize in 2018 for cancer immunotherapy. As a trump card to end the COVID-19 pandemic, infectious disease experts and doctors were recommending getting vaccinated "more and more," as many as five or six times every three months. However, I wonder: did they study immunology? In student practicals at the School of Medicine, we have students experience firsthand that immunizing mice to produce antibodies can, depending on the conditions, cause anaphylactic shock and lead to death. Various immune diseases are always asked about in the National Examination for Medical Practitioners. In other words, immunity has both light and shadow, and it exists on a precise and exquisite balance of the accelerator and the brake.

The reason I decided to write this book is that I wanted to convey the greatness of "immunity" and its potential for future development to many people, while at the same time feeling a sense of crisis about the current situation where a lot of information that does not reflect a correct understanding of immunology is being circulated. I want accurate knowledge to be known as widely as possible, especially by young people. I wrote this with the hope that they would use it as material to think and judge for themselves.

Since it is an introductory book, I intended to write it as clearly as possible, but on the other hand, I explained the important principles of immunity head-on so as not to be ambiguous. Therefore, a certain amount of basic knowledge of biology will likely be required to read it through. Although it is titled a "Super" Introduction, it is not a "super" easy introductory book. I would be grateful if you could view it as a book that "goes beyond" (super) an introduction.

Immunity "Super" Introduction: The Amazing System That Also Holds the Key to "Cancer," "Aging," and the "Brain"

Akihiko Yoshimura

Kodansha Blue Backs

240 pages, 1,100 yen (tax included)

*Affiliations, job titles, etc., are as of the time of publication.