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Scientific Writing Assignment for Immunity and Infection Unit 2016-17
How do the innate and adaptive immune systems work together in defence against bacterial/fungal/viral (choose one) pathogens?
Instructions:
We recommend you start by reading about the topic (e.g. from textbooks) and clarify to yourself what exactly you are asked to write about.
Then make a plan of what you are going to write. This will help you remember to structure your essay properly, keep the balance between different aspects right and to include everything relevant. The essay should read like you are telling a story; the sentences and paragraphs should follow each other logically. This is what is meant by structure.
We expect you to read around the topic (beyond textbooks) and provide upto- date examples (clinical, practical or theoretical) in addition to showing a good overall understanding of the subject.
• Any claim you make which is beyond textbook information needs to be supported by a reference.
• The essay should have a brief introduction and a conclusion in addition to the main text.
• Make sure you define all key terms you use.
• Write in standard professional prose and avoid bullet points and lists. It is good practice for each paragraph to cover one aspect, idea or explanation, and each paragraph should be at least 3 to 4 sentences long. Shorter paragraphs should be expanded or fused with associated other paragraphs. A complete list of main points that are not linked to each other does not reflect understanding and will not gain high marks.
•This is a 1,500 word assignment. Reports shorter than 1,350 words or longer than 1,650 words (±10%) will be marked down by 5% for every 10%.
Solution
Introduction
The primary role of immune system of the human body is to protect it against diseases or any other harmful foreign bodies. That fact that our bodies are in constant exposure to the infectious agents and yet we are able to thwart the infections. It is our immune system that comes into play that resists these infections. It is one of the most complex systems of the human body that takes care of all other systems such as respiratory system, nervous system etc. So, it is well equipped to neutralize foreign bacteria, parasites, fungi and viruses as these pathogens have the propensity to grow and multiply inside our bodies with destructive consequences(Qiao, 2006). In the following essay, we will try to understand different aspects of the immune system, particularly, innate and adaptive immunities. What is their significance and how they work in tandem to fight against foreign pathogens.
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Failing to protect may Spell Trouble
Even though its greatly evolved mechanism of identifying and fighting the germs, the immune system sometimes seems to be unable to give the protection that is paramount for us. This complex system in turn relies on specialized elements such as T cells, B cells, macrophages along with antibodies and biochemical. All of these units perform their specific tasks, while coordinating with each other at the same time. So, if any of these units becomes dysfunctional, there is a possibility that entire immune system can collapse(Lee &Mazmanian, 2010).
The Innate Immune System
The innate immune system is also known as the first line of defense against the pathogens that invades the human body. Most of the encounters that our bodies have with the microorganisms are detected and destroyed and within minutes or hours because innate immunity is at work all the time. The cells that are involved in innate immune system are neutrophils, monocytes, macrophages and dendritic cells. These important elements start developing during the fetal life and mature at different stages of the human life.
The neutrophils are stimulated by granulocyte-colony just before birth. They get sharply increased in number, however, show weak responses towards bacterial functions and inflammatory stimuli. These deficits are more conspicuous in preborn infants. The monocytes and macrophages are also immature in premature children(Ozinsky et al., 2000). In other words, the innate immune system is relatively dormant at birth due to the fact that a fetus not only had to go through non-shared maternal antigens but also tolerate the significant amount of stress and remodeling taking place during its development. Which is why, the newborn is relatively susceptible to viral and bacterial infections.
The Adaptive Immune System
The adaptive immune system primarily consists of antibodies and lymphocytes. This immune system is often known as humoral response and cell mediated response. As the name suggests, adaptive immunity is about tailoring its response to a particular foreign invader. The cells that get involved in adaptive immune system are lymphocytes – B cells and T cells.
The B cells are produced by the bone marrow, which in turn produce antibodies. The B cells after being produced in the bone marrow, move into lymphatic system in order to circulate and present throughout the body. Inside this system, the B cells encounter antigens and get matured. The B cells have distinctive antigen-specific receptors according to one’s DNA. So, when a naïve B cell encounters membrane bound anti-body, it divides and forms either a memory B cell or effector B cell. The T cells, on the other hand, differentiate into cells that either participate in lymphocyte maturation or help in killing virus-infected cells(Randolph, 2005).
One of the key attributes of the adaptive immunity is its memory. Sometimes a repeat infection occurs due to the same virus, then in such a situation it meets with a strong and specific response because of the immune memory. A primary adaptive response may take days to mature, while memory response shows its effects in hours after infection. The subsets of B and T lymphocytes are responsible for immune memory. The fact that secondary responses are stronger than the primary ones, the childhood infections, therefore, protect adults and immunity endowed by vaccination could last for years.
Coordination of innate and adaptive immune systems
In general, the ability to produce response in a manner that is virus-specific is a lot dependent communication between innate and adaptive immune systems. This particular communication established between the two systems is established by cytokines that help in making cell-to-cell interactions between dendritic cells and lymphocytes in lymph nodes. This interaction is so important that it is impossible for adaptive response to occur without any help of innate immunity.
The discovery of pathogen recognition receptors (PRRs) and dendritic cells allowed us to delve deeper to expand our knowledge base regarding immune system by connecting innate immune signaling and adaptive immunity. It provides a fair idea as to how the innate immunity regulates and shapes our adaptive immune responses. In this the dendritic cells play a crucial role for the immune signaling network because they are important phagocytic antigen-presenting cells that know the onslaught of pathogens via PRRs. This response mechanism is characterized by Toll-like receptors (TLRs) or Nod-like Receptors (NLRs), which is also responsible for activating naïve T cell response(Watford, Moriguchi, Morinobu, & O’Shea, 2003).
In simple terms, the innate immune system lets the adaptive immune system know when will be the right time for mounting a defense. It’s being done by making two types of changes on the phagocyte surface that activate adaptive immunity. These changes are also important for the activation of whole immune system. The phagocytes are also referred to as antigen-producing cells because when it engulfs the invading pathogen, they produce the strands of protein derived from the pathogen – called antigens. These antigens being produced on the surface of phagocytes are also known as Major Histocompatibility Complex molecules (MHC). These molecules alert the adaptive immunity and allow T cells to recognize an infected cell.
The mechanism so far is not enough to trigger the whole adaptive immune response. So, at this instant there is a need for a danger signal or a flag signal to be emerged on the surface of the phagocyte cells to allow adaptive immune system fling into action. Now, this is the time for PRRs to play their role. The PRRs that are found inside phagocytes, help in recognizing the pathogens that have common traits. With that a sequence of cellular events is being set resulting in the display of flags that are required to trigger an adaptive immune response(Hoebe, Janssen, &Beutler, 2004). They also trigger the release of certain chemical messengers that are known as cytokines for calling adaptive immune system into action
Lymphocytic Activity
As the germ-line encoded receptors only recognize microorganisms bearing surface molecules common to many pathogens. So, these microbes evolve more rapidly than the hosts. Moreover, many bacteria form a protective capsule enabling them to conceal these molecules, thereby preventing them from being recognized. Viruses, on the other hand, consists of no invariant molecule that are similar to bacteria and therefore seldom recognized directly by macrophages. Therefore, the recognition mechanism being used by lymphocytes of adaptive immunity, has evolved in such a way that overcome the constraints posed to the innate immune system. This recognition includes almost infinite diversity of antigens so that each and every pathogen could be targeted specifically.
It should also be noted that although an independent lymphocyte contains receptors of only single specificity, but the specificity of individual lymphocyte is unique. Because of that millions of lymphocytes carry millions of unique antigen receptor specificities. During the lifetime of an individual, undergo a process similar to natural selection. The lymphocytes that are encountered with an antigen to which their receptors bind, are the only ones that are activated to proliferate and differentiate into effector cells.
In 1960s, during an experimental phase, when very little was known about antigen receptors of lymphocytes, James Gowans discovered that lymphocytes must be the units of clonal selection. The question that emerged at this point was how do the lymphocytes prevented from recognizing the antigens and attacking them? In response to that the biologist Burnet espoused that the lymphocytes that are potentially self-reactive are removed well before they could mature(Charles A Janeway, Travers, Walport, &Shlomchik, 2001).
Finally, an antibody is the central puzzle of adaptive immunity. It was found that an antibody molecule consists of two distinct regions – constant region and variable region. The constant phase can take only few distinguishable forms, while variable region can take countless variety of subtly different forms.
Conclusion
The above essay highlights the importance of both innate and adaptive immune system. The innate systems of defense are quite dependent on invariant receptors that recognize the common features of pathogen. But sometimes they are evaded overcome by many pathogens, so, to recognize all the pathogens is the unique feature of adaptive immunity. It shows that both the immune systems are intertwined and collaboratively work together.
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Charles A Janeway, J., Travers, P., Walport, M., &Shlomchik, M. (2001). Principles of innate and adaptive immunity. Garland Science. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK27090/
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Hoebe, K., Janssen, E., &Beutler, B. (2004). The interface between innate and adaptive immunity.Nature Immunology, 5(10), 971-974. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ni1004-971
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Lee, Y. &Mazmanian, S. (2010). Has the Microbiota Played a Critical Role in the Evolution of the Adaptive Immune System?. Science, 330(6012), 1768-1773. http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1195568
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Ozinsky, A., Underhill, D., Fontenot, J., Hajjar, A., Smith, K., & Wilson, C. et al. (2000). The repertoire for pattern recognition of pathogens by the innate immune system is defined by cooperation between Toll-like receptors. Proceedings Of The National Academy Of Sciences, 97(25), 13766-13771. http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.250476497
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Qiao, Y. (2006). An intrusion detection system based on immune mechanisms. SPIE Newsroom. http://dx.doi.org/10.1117/2.1200609.0282
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Randolph, D. (2005). The Neonatal Adaptive Immune System. Neoreviews, 6(10), e454-e462. http://dx.doi.org/10.1542/neo.6-10-e454
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Watford, W., Moriguchi, M., Morinobu, A., & O’Shea, J. (2003). The biology of IL-12: coordinating innate and adaptive immune responses. Cytokine & Growth Factor Reviews, 14(5), 361-368. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/s1359-6101(03)00043-1
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