22.0 Module Overview

ANATOMY & PHYSIOLOGY II · MODULE 22

Twenty clues, one mechanism

Genetic testing returns two pathogenic MEFV variants and the diagnosis is confirmed. This capstone builds the immune system and then uses it to close the case — every clue in Stina’s chart, traced back to a single defect.

Her flares are abrupt, stereotyped, fever-driven and antibody-negative. ANA, rheumatoid factor and anti-dsDNA have been negative every time they were drawn. Cultures are sterile and antibiotics do nothing. Lymphoid tissue is reactive but the spleen works.

That combination is a fingerprint, and it points at the innate arm rather than the adaptive one. FMF is autoinflammatory, not autoimmune. A hair-trigger pyrin inflammasome floods the system with IL-1β; chronically elevated serum amyloid A follows; AA amyloid deposits in gut and kidney. One pathway accounts for all of it.

PATIENT CHART · STINA · CHART CLUE #22

  • Genetics — Two pathogenic MEFV variants
  • Serology — ANA, RF, anti-dsDNA negative
  • Cultures — Sterile; no antibiotic response
  • Biopsy — AA amyloid, gut and kidney

Each part opens with a finding from Stina’s chart and asks you to commit to a prediction before any video plays, then alternates short videos with H5P activities. Work them in order.

22.1

The Lab Result That Names Everything

Two MEFV variants, and a diagnosis at last.

MEFV

Coming soon

22.2

Two Arms of Defense

Innate and adaptive immunity, and which one is misfiring.

INNATE VS ADAPTIVE

Coming soon

22.3

The Cells and the Lymphatic Organs

Immune cells, lymphoid tissues, and reactive hyperplasia.

LYMPHATIC SYSTEM

Coming soon

22.4

The Inflammatory Response

The cardinal signs, and what sterile inflammation means.

INFLAMMATION

Coming soon

22.5

Antibodies, Adaptive Immunity and Memory

Why a clean autoantibody panel is the point.

ADAPTIVE IMMUNITY

Coming soon

22.6

From Pyrin to Amyloid

The whole pathway, and the two points where it is starved.

PYRIN TO AMYLOID

Coming soon

22.7

One Connected Story

Twenty clues, one mechanism, one diagnosis.

CHART CLUE #22

Coming soon

The Evidence Behind the Case

Every step of this module’s reasoning, paired with the peer-reviewed literature behind it.

REFERENCES

OPEN →

By the end of Module 22 you will be able to:

1

Distinguish innate from adaptive immunity and identify the cells of each.

2

Describe the organs and tissues of the lymphatic system and their immune roles.

3

Explain the cardinal signs of inflammation and the mechanism behind each.

4

Describe antibody structure, classes, and the basis of immunological memory.

5

Distinguish autoinflammatory from autoimmune disease using clinical and laboratory evidence.

6

Trace the pyrin-IL-1β-SAA-amyloid pathway and identify where treatment interrupts it.

List of terms