Our immune system is continually on the warpath. The complex and sophisticated system that makes up our body as a whole is permanently threatened by external enemies, such as viruses, bacteria or fungi, ready to take advantage of any weakness in our defense system to invade us. There is also no shortage of internal threats in the form of cells that disobey the rules that make our body balance possible and put the entire cellular society that composes us at risk. Luckily for us, as Jorge Laborda has explained to us throughout the previous 12 chapters of the podcast Talking to Scientists Dedicated to the Immune System, we have a complex, well-organized, magnificently armed, and highly effective defensive system.
However, as usually happens in any complex system in which a multitude of parts are involved, there may be failures that prevent correct operation and cause imbalances. Some imbalances that can have dangerous or even fatal consequences for the existence of the organism because it prevents the correct functioning of the defenses and, therefore, hinders the control and eradication of infections. We speak then of “immunodeficiencies”.
Any machine that we use, a car for example, is made up of a multitude of parts that must perform their task correctly and in sync with the rest of the components for the mechanism to work. If any of the parts has been incorrectly manufactured or breaks, depending on the place it occupies in the chain of actions that allow the machine to function, it can cause a loss in engine performance or even completely prevent its operation. The same thing happens with the immune system, but on an infinitely higher scale.
Throughout the talks with Jorge Laborda we have learned that a multitude of cell types are involved, each of them specialized in different tasks and, among them, an infinity of molecules secreted by the organism, they collaborate in the function of the cells or are involved in control of their actions. Thus we have learned that when an invasion takes place, through a wound, for example, cell bodies and unspecialized, but effective, chemicals intervene against most attackers. These first lines of defense are known as the “innate immune system.” When those first defensive barriers fail to stop the invader, internal communication systems come into play that send information about the invader to the lymphocytes, the elite body of the human defense system. Lymphocytes come to be specialized soldiers that adapt by developing specific weapons against the specific enemy that attacks us. These form the adaptive immune system.
What can go wrong and what consequences can have the fact that any of the components of this extraordinarily varied amount of cells and molecules does not work correctly? As can be understood, the accumulation of possibilities is enormous, but Jorge Laborda is going to help us understand the more general lines of the problem of immunodeficiencies with the ability that characterizes him throughout two programs.
Jorge explains that the most important immunodeficiencies are those that are caused by a genetic failure in some of the hundreds of genes necessary for the functioning of the immune system. Another set is made up of what we can call evolutionary immunodeficiencies, that is, those caused by some microorganism having evolved faster than our immune system. Since all organisms evolve, some defending themselves from enemies and these finding new ways that allow them to overcome those defenses. There are immunodeficiencies that are not caused by genetic failure, but are due to the natural state of things at the time of evolution in which we are.
In this program we focus on defects in innate immunity. The first flaws we talked about are plugin activation flaws. The complement is made up of a set of chemical substances found in the blood plasma or on the surface of some cells and which fulfills three fundamental functions. One is the marking of microorganisms and foreign molecules (opsonization) so that other cells of the immune system, neutrophils and macrophages, identify them as enemies and eat them. Another function consists of a “warning and calling” task by generating molecules that attract defense cells to the place where the invasion has occurred. Finally, the substances that make up the complement can generate pores on the surface of enemy cells, causing communication between the interior and exterior of the cell and causing its death.
Each of the mentioned pathways may have failures that hinder or make it impossible for the complement to act and, therefore, for infection control.
Jorge Laborda explains the different possibilities and problems that can arise as a consequence of immunodeficiencies associated with defects in innate immunity. I invite you to listen to it in this podcast.
Jorge Laborda is Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Castilla-La Mancha. (Albacete) and author of the Quilo de Ciencia Podcast.
CHAPTERS ISSUED
We are surrounded! immune system 1.
The chemical warfare of the Immune System 2.
Alarm, we are attacked! Immune system 3
Adapting to the enemy within. immune system 4.
Reporting on the enemy. immune system 5.
B lymphocytes and antibodies. immune system 6
Antibody test and T lymphocytes. Immune System 7
Licensed T cell to kill or collaborate. Immune system 8.
A different weapon for each lymphocyte. Immune system 9.
Knowing friends to detect enemies. Immune system 10.
The alergies. Immune System 11. We spoke with Jorge Laborda.
Four types of allergies. Immune System 12. We spoke with Jorge Laborda.
BOOKS:
WE ARE SURROUNDED!
WE ARE SURROUNDED!
Deflamed immunology: An introduction to the immune system and its pathologies
Deflamed immunology: An introduction to the immune system and its pathologies
Deflamed immunology: An introduction to the immune system and its pathologies
Your defenses against coronavirus. A brief introduction to the immune system
Your defenses against coronavirus. A brief introduction to the immune system.
Your defenses against coronavirus. A brief introduction to the immune system.