Your knowledge about the immune system is the prime factor of how can you deal with cancer or any crucial disease.
The Wall of Immunity that keeps you Fine
The name Immunology comes from ‘Immune’ means the immune system and ‘Logos’ mean to study, in short, is the study of the immune system which is very important in the branch of the medical sciences.
The immune system protects the human body from various types of infection. If the immune system is not functioning properly as it should, it can result in any type of diseases, such as allergy and cancer.
The understanding of Immunology is important
Immunological research helps us to increase our understanding of how to treat and how to fight against significant health issues with ongoing research efforts in immunotherapy, autoimmune diseases, and vaccines for emerging pathogens. Advancing our understanding of basic immunology in Siliguri is essential for clinical application and treatment.
Furthermore, it has facilitated the discovery of new diagnostics and treatments to manage a wide array of diseases.
The two Immuno-Mechanisms you must know about
Innate Immune System-
This is called the first line of the defence system. In this system, the responses are the same for all potential pathogens, no matter how different they may be. It includes physical barriers (e.g. skin, saliva etc), cells (e.g. macrophages, neutrophils, basophils, mast cells etc) and protects an organism for the first few days of infection.
However, this is enough to clear the pathogen but in other instances the second line of defence kicks in.
Adaptive Immune System-
It is the second line of defence which involves antibodies that target pathogen roaming free in the bloodstream and kill them. This system building up the memory of encountered infections so can mount an enhanced response specific to the pathogen or foreign substance.
The kind of disorders immune deficiencies can cause:
- Immunodeficiency disorders which involve problems with the immune system that impair its ability to mount an appropriate defence.
- Autoimmune diseases cause people suffering from a defect that their immune system unable to distinguish ‘self’ from ‘non-self’ or ‘foreign’ molecules.
- Allergies are another hypersensitivity disorders that occur when your body’s immune system reacts against harmless foreign substances.
- Asthma is a fatal disease that occurs when the immune system responds to inhaled particles from the air and can lead to thickening of the airways in patients over time.
- Cancer is a disease of abnormal and uncontrolled cell growth and is defined by a set of hallmarks, one of which is the capacity for cancer cells to avoid immune destruction.
Being Immune from Cancer
Cancer cells can turn off the immune response in our body so that the immune cells don’t attack them and unable to protect us.
Moreover, the immune system gets weakened when the cancer treatment, like chemotherapy or radiation therapy, affects the bone marrow.
Cancer treatment through Immunotherapy
With the knowledge of the immune system can contribute to cancer, researchers have evolved a mechanism which is known as immunotherapy to defeat cancer. Cancer immunotherapy seeks to stimulate the immune system’s innate powers to fight cancerous tissue as a new weapon in our body against the disease. As an example-
- In this therapy, types of Interleukins, as well as interferons, can be used against kidney cancer.
- Interferon have also been approved to treat: 2 types of leukemia such as hairy cell leukemia & chronic myelogenous leukemia and 2 types of lymphoma-like follicular non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma & cutaneous T-cell lymphoma.
- Use of monoclonal antibodies such as Herceptin antibody used to treat breast and stomach cancer.
An innovative therapy to be Cancer Free
Cancer is a life-threaten disease which can be cured by an advanced method. The role of immune system in curing cancer is very important. The development of new therapies and cancer treatments in Siliguri can manage or cure the condition by altering the way the immune system is working and boosting the immune reaction to specific pathogens.
