Related topics: immune system
Immune system
hideAn immune system is a collection of biological processes within an organism that protects against disease by identifying and killing pathogens and tumour cells. It detects a wide variety of agents, from viruses to parasitic worms, and needs to distinguish them from the organism's own healthy cells and tissues in order to function properly. Detection is complicated as pathogens can evolve rapidly, producing adaptations that avoid the immune system and allow the pathogens to successfully infect their hosts.
To survive this challenge, multiple mechanisms evolved that recognize and neutralize pathogens. Even simple unicellular organisms such as bacteria possess enzyme systems that protect against viral infections. Other basic immune mechanisms evolved in ancient eukaryotes and remain in their modern descendants, such as plants, fish, reptiles, and insects. These mechanisms include antimicrobial peptides called defensins, phagocytosis, and the complement system. Vertebrates such as humans have even more sophisticated defense mechanisms. The immune systems of vertebrates consist of many types of proteins, cells, organs, and tissues, which interact in an elaborate and dynamic network. As part of this more complex immune response, the human immune system adapts over time to recognise specific pathogens more efficiently. This adaptation process is referred to as "adaptive immunity" or "acquired immunity" and creates immunological memory. Immunological memory created from a primary response to a specific pathogen, provides an enhanced response to secondary encounters with that same, specific pathogen. This process of acquired immunity is the basis of vaccination.
Disorders in the immune system can result in disease. Immunodeficiency occurs when the immune system is less active than normal, resulting in recurring and life-threatening infections. Immunodeficiency can either be the result of a genetic disease, such as severe combined immunodeficiency, or be produced by pharmaceuticals or an infection, such as the acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) that is caused by the retrovirus HIV. In contrast, autoimmune diseases result from a hyperactive immune system attacking normal tissues as if they were foreign organisms. Common autoimmune diseases include Hashimoto's Thyroiditis, rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes mellitus type 1 and lupus erythematosus. Immunology covers the study of all aspects of the immune system which has significant relevance to human health and diseases. Further investigation in this field is expected to play a serious role in promotion of health and treatment of diseases.
For more information about Immune system, read the full article at
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News tagged with immune response
Researchers discover how mosquitoes avoid succumbing to viruses they transmit
Biology /
Dec 01, 2008 |
4.7 / 5 (18) |
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Mosquitoes are like Typhoid Mary. They can spread viruses which cause West Nile fever, dengue fever, or yellow fever without themselves getting sick. Scientists long thought that the mosquito didn't care whether it had a ...
Scientists remove amyloid plaques from brains of live animals with Alzheimer's disease
Oct 15, 2009 |
4.8 / 5 (17) |
1
A breakthrough discovery by scientists from the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, FL, may lead to a new treatment for Alzheimer's Disease that actually removes amyloid plaques -- considered a hallmark of the disease -- from patients' ...
Parasite vaccines within reach
Jul 03, 2008 |
4.9 / 5 (14) |
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Even though parasites are complex creatures, the mammalian immune response to them is surprisingly simple, leading University of California, Berkeley, researchers to predict that creating vaccines for parasitic ...
Scientists Find First Immune Responses to HIV Infection Ineffective
Medicine & Health / HIV & AIDS
Oct 09, 2008 |
4.9 / 5 (9) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have identified the very first antibodies to appear in the wake of HIV infection and have concluded that they are virtually impotent in mounting a meaningful defense against the invading virus.
New Synthetic Molecules Trigger Immune Response to HIV and Prostate Cancer
Nov 05, 2009 |
4.7 / 5 (9) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at Yale University have developed synthetic molecules capable of enhancing the body’s immune response to HIV and HIV-infected cells, as well as to prostate cancer cells. Their ...
Fibre may keep asthma, diabetes at bay, study finds
Oct 28, 2009 |
4.8 / 5 (8) |
1
Insoluble dietary fibre, or roughage, not only keeps you regular, say Australian scientists, it also plays a vital role in the immune system, keeping certain diseases at bay.
Vitamin D may exacerbate autoimmune disease
Apr 08, 2009 |
4.1 / 5 (9) |
4
Deficiency in vitamin D has been widely regarded as contributing to autoimmune disease, but a review appearing in Autoimmunity Reviews explains that low levels of vitamin D in patients with autoimmune disease may be a resu ...
New origin found for a critical immune response
Mar 01, 2009 |
4.4 / 5 (8) |
0
An immune system response that is critical to the first stages of fighting off viruses and harmful bacteria comes from an entirely different direction than most scientists had thought, according to a finding by researchers ...
Bees go 'off-color' when they are sickly
Biology /
Jul 16, 2008 |
4.7 / 5 (7) |
3
Bumble-bees go 'off colour' and can't remember which flowers have the most nectar when they are feeling under the weather, a new study from the University of Leicester reveals.
Vaccine to prevent colon cancer being tested in patients
Mar 19, 2009 |
4.4 / 5 (7) |
1
Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine have begun testing a vaccine that might be able to prevent colon cancer in people at high risk for developing the disease. If shown to be effective, it might ...
Monoclonal antibodies primed to become potent immune weapons against cancer
Mar 20, 2009 |
5 / 5 (6) |
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New research suggests that monoclonal antibody therapy of cancer can be improved to be much more powerful than it is today, says a researcher at Georgetown University Medical Center's Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center ...
Scientists reveal malaria parasites' tactics for outwitting our immune systems
Nov 30, 2009 |
4.8 / 5 (6) |
1
Malaria parasites are able to disguise themselves to avoid the host's immune system, according to research funded by the Wellcome Trust and published today in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of ...
Researchers develop E. coli vaccine
Apr 14, 2009 |
4.2 / 5 (6) |
3
A Michigan State University researcher has developed a working vaccine for a strain of E. coli that kills 2 million to 3 million children each year in the developing world.
Nanoparticles for gene therapy improve
Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine
Nov 06, 2009 |
5 / 5 (5) |
3
(PhysOrg.com) -- About five years ago, Professor Janet Sawicki at the Lankenau Institute in Pennsylvania read an article about nanoparticles developed by MIT's Robert Langer for gene therapy, the insertion ...
Key feature of immune system survived in humans, other primates for 60 million years
Aug 18, 2009 |
3.8 / 5 (6) |
3
A new study has concluded that one key part of the immune system, the ability of vitamin D to regulate anti-bactericidal proteins, is so important that is has been conserved through almost 60 million years of evolution and ...
