How the Immune System Works Essay - 1951 Words

Most of the time nonspecific defenses keep pathogens from getting into the body. Sometimes one can break through and cause a disease. This is where the immune system comes into use. The immune system is the bodys third line of defense. It is a network of several tissues and white blood cells. The tissues of the immune system are bone marrow, thymus, lymph nodes, spleen, tonsils, and adenoids. The white blood cells of the immune system are called lymphocytes (Postlethwait Hopson, Modern Biology). The job of the immune system is to keep â€Å"foreign† invaders out of the body, or if one gets in, to seek it out and kill it. These foreign invaders are called pathogens, which are tiny organisms that can cause an infection in the body. Pathogens†¦show more content†¦Any substance the immune system can react with is called an antigen. Antigens cause lymphocytes to react. Many things can be classified as an antigen because it can be anything that is not normally in the body. These include: pathogens, bacterial toxins, insect venom, and pollen. There are two main places where a pathogen would be in the body. They would be in tissue spaces outside of a cell or intercellular within a host cell. The immune system has many different ways to deal with these pathogens. The reaction of the body against an antigen is called an immune response (http://pathmicro.med.sc.edu/bowers/immune%20cells.htm). There are two parts to an immune response. They are the cell-mediated immune response and the humoral immune response. Both parts happen at the same time and both require a specialized lymphocyte called a helper T cells. Macrophages engulf pathogens, process them internally, then display parts of them on the surface of their own cell membrane together with some of their own proteins. When the macrophage binds to a helper T cell it releases a cytokine called interleukin-1. Cytokines are proteins that can affect the behavior of other immune cells. When interleukin-1 is released it activates more helper T cells, which then releases a second cytokine called interleukin-2. More than one type of T cell is used in the cell-mediated immune response. Interleukin-2 makes more helper T cells, that stimulates the further productionShow MoreRelatedEssay about The Functions of the Immune System926 Words   |  4 PagesImmune System Research Paper 1. EQ: How does the structure and function of my immune system keep me healthy? The structure and function of our immune systems is a great help for our body to keep all of us healthy. Our immune system has a specific structure that it should maintain. There are also organs that play a major part for the health of our immune system. These organs are called lymphoid organs because of the lymphocytes that inhabit that area. 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