The Immune Response

1.            Immunity: the ability of the body to protect itself from viruses, bacteria and other disease-causing entities.

2.            Function of Immune system:

a.            Protects the body from disease-causing pathogens.

b.            Removes dead or damaged tissue cells.

c.            Recognizes and removes abnormal cells created when normal cell growth and development go wrong.

3.            Components of Immune response:

a.         Keep pathogens out of body by means of physical and chemical barriers.

b.         If that line of defense fails, then the internal immune response takes over.

4.         Steps in Immune response:

a.            Detection and identification of the foreign substance.

b.            Communication with other immune cells to rally an organized response.

c.            Recruitment of assistance and coordination of the response among all participating cells.

d.            Destruction or suppression of the invader.

5.         Two categories of Immune response:

a.         Innate: forms the non-specific responses of the body to invasion.

b.            Acquired: directed at specific invaders.

6.            Extensive use of Chemical signaling:

a.            Detection, identification, communication, recruitment, coordination, and the attack on the invader are all chemically mediated processes.

b.            Antibodies, which are proteins produced by certain immune cells, play a key role in the identification and targeting of pathogens.

c.         Many steps in the immune process involve the binding of a ligand to a receptor.

d.         Other steps depend on chemical messengers that travel between cells.

e.         These messengers are cytokines, molecules released by one cell that affect the growth and activity of another cell.