Today we complete the two chapters dedicated to the immunodeficiencies of our body defense system, the immune system, with these there are already 14 programs with which Jorge Laborda has been opening for us that complex and marvelously organized world in which a multitude of cells of different types, along with countless molecules secreted by our body, collaborate with a single purpose: to defend ourselves from the tiny enemies that surround us, viruses, bacteria, and pathogenic fungi. Any failure in the genes that contain the formulas for these protective molecules, or any dysfunction that affects the creation or activity of these tiny but highly effective soldiers that confront enemy microorganisms, can weaken our defenses and lead to immunodeficiency. .
Jorge Laborda talks today about those immunodeficiencies that affect phagocytic cells, a type of white blood cells so called because they phagocytose, that is, they engulf bacteria and other invading microorganisms that, after invasion, reproduce and spread throughout the intercellular space. These phagocytic cells are made up of a varied group including monocytes, macrophages and neutrophils that Jorge mentions throughout the interview. Phagocytes are like the foot soldiers of a well-trained and equipped army that, from their point of birth in the bone marrow, must be dragged through the bloodstream to the site of infection. This movement is guided by other molecules that, in the vicinity of the invasion site, invite the walls of the vessels to become sticky, a glue that serves to trap the phagocytes and serves as an anchor to fix themselves in place and avoid be swept away by the current. Once this anchorage is achieved, the phagocytes penetrate the wall, go through it and go out into the intercellular space in search of the enemy. But this search is not random, once again it is guided by some molecules that indicate the correct direction. Once they are at the infection site, they begin to gobble up the attackers at the same time that they send signals for other troops to enter the battle.
As you can see in this reduced description of the facts, the number of processes involved is very high and any of them could fail causing the loss of effectiveness of the defenses, that is, an immunodeficiency. Jorge mentions throughout the interview some of the known immunodeficiencies. As in everything that concerns the enormous complex of cells and interactions that make up our body, each step is always mediated by molecules of a different nature produced by cells that have their formula encoded in their genes. Thus, a defect in a gene can lead to the manufacture of the wrong and probably ineffective molecule. We have a good example in the anchoring system of phagocytes to the walls of blood vessels that I have mentioned. If this molecular “glue” that indicates the place near the infection is not correct, the phagocytes will not be able to prevent themselves from being dragged by the bloodstream and will not be able to reach the place of infection, so their presence would be useless. But if the anchor works and the phagocyte penetrates the walls of the blood vessels, but the molecules that indicate the direction in which the phagocyte should move fail, they will get lost along the way and will not reach the battlefield, diminishing their effectiveness. Another error could occur if, due to a genetic mutation, the phagocyte loses the ability to engulf enemy microorganisms and destroy them, etc.
There are many possibilities to expose them here, to know everything in more detail I invite you to listen to Jorge Laborda in this fourteenth installment dedicated to the immune system.
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.
Genetic immunodeficiencies. Immune system 13. 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.