Immunity system complexity (Introduction)

by David Turell , Monday, June 22, 2020, 15:42 (1397 days ago) @ dhw

DAVID: Still struggling for cell intelligence. All the immunity cells have standardized built-in reactions to invaders. The antibodies produced are from reactions to antigens (specific molecules) on the surface of the infective organism. The fact that they are standardized means the odd hard-to-control diseases I have mentioned exist.

dhw: How can they be standardized when there is a brand new invader? Each new invader requires new antibodies, and every antibody constitutes a new volume in the accumulative library of remembered answers. See below for “instructions”.

There are no new-type responses to new invaders. Response methods are all the same but for something new as a disease causer a new antibody is produced. And the library grows.

QUOTE (under “herd immunity): "From looking at the circulation of measles within island communities, we know it can’t survive for long in places with fewer than about half a million people. This is because it causes lifelong immunity, so once everyone has had it, there are no more hosts to keep it going. Only in larger communities would there be enough new, and therefore susceptible, babies being born for the virus to survive."

dhw: Confirmation that you are not naturally immune to a disease until you have had it – i.e. the library is an on-going accumulation of volumes/answers/instructions.

DAVID: Yes, to 'volumes, answers'. The cells instructions as to how to respond are fixed and do not change.

dhw: I still don’t know what “instructions” you are referring to. Do you simply mean the cells must respond to the new invader by finding means of killing it? The means are certainly NOT fixed, since each new invader demands a new response - and sometimes the cells are unable to come up with the goods.

A new response does not mean a new method of response. Antibodies always form in the same way by taking notice of a protein or series of proteins on the invader's surface and forming a killer antibody to neutralize it. Antibiotics are the same mechanism. This limited defense automaticity allows some bacteria/virus attackers to evade. Another example for you. The organism that causes lobar pneumonia is surrounded by a waxy coating that fights any antibody and the cellular standardized antibody response is sluggish. That is why we have the modern pneumonia vaccines. Our antibody mechanism needs help and becomes ready for the bug as the vaccine allows a library addition before the bug ever attacks. As for your question bolded above, the cells contain the instructional information for their standardized responses, and add new instructional information for the newly developed antibody response to their ever expanding library of responses. All by original design of the cells. Remember the newborn comes with a blank library and builds it over a lifetime.