Our immune system is one
of nature’s most fascinating inventions of our body. It protects us against billions of bacteria,
viruses, parasites and fungi with ease.
Most of us never reflect upon the fact that while we hang out with our
friends, go shopping, or go to school, our immune system is constantly on the
alert, attacking whatever invaders coming through our skins, mouth, ears, eyes,
and also attacking those critters that are multiplying inside our body.
A little info about how
they are formed. There are cells called White
blood cells in every human body called lymphocytes, these White blood cells
originate in the bone marrow but migrate to parts of the lymphatic system such
as the lymph nodes, spleen and thymus. The lymphatic system also involves a special
transportation system – lymph vessels – mainly for transportation and storage
of lymphocyte cells within the body. The
lymphatic system feeds cells into the body and filters out dead cells and
invading organism such as bacteria. There
are two main types of lymphatic cells, T-cell and B-cells. As informed earlier, T-cells come in two different
types, helper cells and killer cells.
They are called T-cells after the thymus, which is an organ situated
under the breastbone. T-cell produced in
the bone marrow and later move to the thymus where they mature. B-cells are continuously produced in the bone
marrow from where they migrate to secondary lymphoid tissues where some develop
into mature B cells.
Apart from the T-cells
and B-cells and their subset cells. There
is a cell called plasma cell which are derived from B-cells. The role of the plasma cells is in producing
a specific protein, called an antibody that responds to antigen. Antibodies are released from the plasma cell
so that they can seek out invaders and help destroy them. Plasma cells produces antibodies that too at
an amazing rate and that release tens of thousands of antibodies per seconds. Antibodies trap invading viruses or bacteria
in large clumps. This makes it easy for
the macrophages to eat them. Antibody
coated viruses are called “neutralized”, they are so called because they cannot
infect your cells, as even after you have fought off your infections, some
antibodies stay in your blood.
