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The immune system is a network of biological systems that protects an organism from diseases. It detects and responds to a wide variety of pathogens, from viruses to bacteria, as well as cancer cells, parasitic worms, and also objects such as wood splinters, distinguishing them from the organism's own healthy tissue. Many species have two major ...
The first major immunologic model was the Self/Non-self Model proposed by Macfarlane Burnet and Frank Fenner in 1949 with later refinement by Burnet. [1] [2] It theorizes that the immune system distinguishes between self, which is tolerated, and non-self, which is attacked and destroyed.
Traditional thinking was that the immune system identified infections directly but this discovery turned that theory on its head. Compatibility genes were essential in immune system mediated viral clearing. The pair coined the term "MHC Restriction" to describe this relationship between T-cells, specific MHC proteins, and viral detection. [1]
These histiocytes are part of the immune system by way of two distinct functions: phagocytosis and antigen presentation. Phagocytosis is the main process of macrophages and antigen presentation the main property of dendritic cells (so called because of their star-like cytoplasmic processes).
The Ro and La antigens are expressed on the surface of cells undergoing apoptosis and may cause the inflammation within the salivary gland by interaction with cells of the immune system. The antibodies may also be produced through molecular mimicry, where cross reactive antibodies bind to both virus and human proteins.
A representation of the cholera epidemic of the 19th century. For thousands of years mankind has been intrigued with the causes of disease and the concept of immunity. The prehistoric view was that disease was caused by supernatural forces, and that illness was a form of theurgic punishment for "bad deeds" or "evil thoughts" visited upon the soul by the gods or by one's enemies. [8]
In the late 19th century Hippocratic tradition medicine system, the immune system was imagined into two branches: humoral immunity, for which the protective function of immunization could be found in the humor (cell-free bodily fluid or serum) and cellular immunity, for which the protective function of immunization was associated with cells.
Systems immunology is a research field under systems biology that uses mathematical approaches and computational methods to examine the interactions within cellular and molecular networks of the immune system. [1] The immune system has been thoroughly analyzed as regards to its components and function by using a "reductionist" approach, but its ...