How Can the Immune System Go Awry?

This post is part of a miniseries on the immune system. Be sure to check out the other posts in this series that you may have missed. The immune system is designed to closely monitor the body for signs of intruders that may cause infection. But what happens if it malfunctions? Overactive and underactive immune systems can both have negative effects on your health. Autoimmune Disorders To effectively monitor the body for pathogens, the adaptive immune system has to learn what a pathogen “looks like” on a molecular level. During their development, white blood cells go through training to learn how to differentiate “self” from “non-self.” They are trained to avoid attacking any “self” cells, which includes all types of human cells. Sometimes this training fails, creating white blood cells that target “self” and cause autoimmune disorders. For example, type 1 diabetes results when the immune system wrongly attacks the pancreas, which is the organ that produces insulin—a hormone that controls blood sugar levels. People with type 1 diabetes must take insulin injections to keep their blood sugar within a safe range. Immunodeficiency Disorders Sometimes the immune system doesn’t work effectively to prevent infections. Doctors and researchers call this immunodeficiency. Immunodeficiency disorders can involve any cell type of the immune system and can be either inherited (genetic) or acquired (caused by external factors). X-linked a...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Cells Injury and Illness Diseases Immunology Miniseries Infectious Diseases Microbes Sepsis Source Type: blogs