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Although phagocytes and other components of the innate immune system can, to a limited extent, control viruses, once a virus is inside a cell the adaptive immune responses, particularly the lymphocytes, are more important for defense. [43]
The innate immune system or nonspecific immune system [1] is one of the two main immunity strategies in vertebrates (the other being the adaptive immune system). The innate immune system is an alternate defense strategy and is the dominant immune system response found in plants , fungi , prokaryotes , and invertebrates (see Beyond vertebrates ).
Non-specific immunity, or innate immunity, is the immune system with which you were born, made up of phagocytes and barriers. Phagocytosis , derived from the Greek words phagein , meaning to eat, kytos or cell, and “osis” meaning process, was first described by Élie Metchnikoff , who won the Nobel Prize 100 years ago.
Phagocytosis is one main mechanisms of the innate immune defense. It is one of the first processes responding to infection, and is also one of the initiating branches of an adaptive immune response. Although most cells are capable of phagocytosis, some cell types perform it as part of their main function. These are called 'professional phagocytes.'
Stimulating cells to secrete a variety of cytokines that influence the function of other cells involved in adaptive immune responses and innate immune responses. [3] [4] Cell-mediated immunity is directed primarily at microbes that survive in phagocytes and microbes that infect non-phagocytic cells.
Both innate and adaptive immunity depend on the ability of the immune system to distinguish between self and non-self molecules. In immunology, self molecules are components of an organism's body that can be distinguished from foreign substances by the immune system. [6] Conversely, non-self molecules are those recognized as foreign molecules.
The immune system has innate and adaptive components. Innate immunity is present in all metazoans , [ 1 ] immune responses: inflammatory responses and phagocytosis . [ 2 ] The adaptive component, on the other hand, involves more advanced lymphatic cells that can distinguish between specific "non-self" substances in the presence of "self".
In adaptive immunity, pathogen-specific receptors are "acquired" during the lifetime of the organism (whereas in innate immunity pathogen-specific receptors are already encoded in the genome). This acquired response is called "adaptive" because it prepares the body's immune system for future challenges (though it can actually also be ...