Immunity system complexity: how dendritic cells work (Introduction)

by David Turell , Tuesday, March 02, 2021, 19:26 (1149 days ago) @ David Turell

First, what are dendritic cells:

https://www.thefreedictionary.com/dendritic+cell

"Any of various white blood cells that have long projections from the cell body and function in the immune response by taking in and processing antigens and presenting them to T cells in lymph nodes, thus activating the T cells. Immature dendritic cells are found chiefly in skin and mucosal surfaces.

The article:

"Dendritic cells are immune cells that activate 'killer' T cells, which are vital for clearing viral infections, such as COVID-19, but also for triggering a response to cancers such as melanoma and bowel cancer.

"The Flt3L hormone can increase dendritic cell numbers, helping the immune system to fight off cancer and infection.

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"'There is one type of dendritic cell that the body uses to fight some infections and cancer. The Flt3L hormone increases numbers of this particular dendritic cell. We know quite well how the dendritic cell fights the cancer, but we don't know how the Flt3L hormone increases the numbers of those dendritic cells," he said.

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"This research answers a 50-year-long question as to what causes a stem cell to react in response to immense stress, such as infection or inflammation.

"'We have known that the Flt3L hormone increases the number of dendritic cells for decades but now there is a focus on applying this knowledge to cancer immunotherapy and potentially to infection immunotherapy as well," Dr. Naik said."

Comment: we are born with an innate system of which this is a complex part. It tells us that God, as He designed us, recognized the problems cancer from DNA mistakes and pathogens would present to our health. We are trying to discover how to gear up this system to more activity than it now offers.