Unravelling the Genetic Tapestry of Immunity: A Comprehensive Review of Immunogenetics

Abstract

The overlap of immunology and genetics has become immunogenetics, an exciting new field that promises to reveal previously inaccessible details of interactions between genetic variation and immune reactions, disease development and resolution, drug efficacy and tolerance. As global health is increasingly influenced by immune-mediated disorders and it spans autoimmune disease, cancer, and new emerging infectious risks, precision, population-specific interventions have never been more urgent. This review brings together fundamental immunogenetics and translational research under one umbrella, discussing the contributions of HLA polymorphism, the diversity of antibody/T-cell receptor, cytokine networks, and immune checkpoint regulation in the development of antigen recognition and immune tolerance. We explain disruptive technologies, such as next-generation sequencing, CRISPR-Cas9, and integrative multi-omics, that are redefining the field of diagnostics and therapeutics. Certain persistent issues cannot be ignored, e.g., equal utilization of genetic information amongst human genetic variations, ethical management of genetic information, and biomarker validation are equally evaluated. We propose the future directions using systems biology, consortia of global genomics, and predictive modelling made possible through AI as the basis of next-generation precision medicine, with the next factor of precision medicine being immunogenetics.