The Essay on Immune System and Microbial Interactions

Immunity

Humans are constantly exposed to microbes inhaled, ingested, or inhabiting our gastric mucosa. The virulence of the bacterium (the pathogenic mechanisms at its control) and the efficiency of the host immune system determine if those bacteria infiltrate and cause illness.

The immune system comprises lymphoid organs, cells, the body’s immune proteins, and cytokines that operate together. The immune system’s critical role in protective immunity is best seen when it fails: interactivity leads to severe illnesses and malignancies in immunodeficiency, while overactivity leads to allergy and autoimmune illness.

The immunological system’s typical role of identifying, rejecting, and destroying viruses and other foreign substances have been discussed in this overview. The body’s immune system is critical for survival in a society full of highly unsafe bacteria. Even minor impairments in one arm of the chain can contribute to major, even existence diseases (Mirzaei, 2020).

Cellular and Molecular mechanism of Adaptive Immunity

Adaptive immunity responds to a pathogen or cellular aberration by activating and multiplying epitope B and T cells after being alerted by the body’s immune response. The immune system protects us against infection-related mortality.

Unless extreme precautions are taken to isolate a newborn born with a highly compromised body’s immune response from a variety of infectious organisms such as “bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites”, the infant will die quickly (Alberts et al. 2002).

The “adaptive immune system” has the ability to discriminate what is local from what’s really self in just this way is a key trait. Sometimes, the system fails to distinguish between the two and reacts negatively to the host’s own molecules.

Autoimmune illnesses like these can be lethal. Two forms of immunological responses include antibody titers and “cell-mediated” immune cells. By blocking viral and microbial compounds from attaching to receptors on host tissue, antibodies binding makes them inert.

Antibody binding marks intruding pathogens for clearance, making it easier for the phagocytic monocyte-macrophage machinery to consume them (Ahmed et al., 2009). In cell-mediated inflammatory processes, the secondary kind of defensive immune response, activated T cells respond quickly to a viral infection transmitted to them on the membranes of a host body (Bos & Teunissen 2008).

Role of Immune tolerance in autoimmune disease

“Immune tolerance” relates to the immune system’s inability to respond to self-antigens. This is necessary to prevent inflammatory processes in healthy tissue. When immunological tolerance is broken, the autoimmune disease develops.

Immune tolerance treatments work by reprogramming the immune system to limit illness immune attacks on self-tissue while allowing the immune response to combat infection. The “Immunological Tolerance Network (ITN)” is also aiming to find immune resistance indicators that might aid in determining the best treatment plan for future sufferers (Luo, Miller & Shea 2016).

The failure or disintegration of immune tolerance causes autoimmune disorders. Such occurrences are linked to both biological and epigenetic causes, with the latter being mostly infections.

Infectious pathogens can trigger autoimmune reactions by causing tissue inflammation and unintentional activation of autoreactive T cells or by encouraging T – cell activation to bacterial surface proteins that cross-react with self-proteins (Abdullah, 2018).

Vitiligo Disease

Vitiligo is an autoimmune illness characterised by the loss of pigment in some regions of the skin. The discoloured areas usually become bigger over time. The sickness can damage any layers of the skin on the person.

Hair and the inside of the mouth may be impacted as well. Melanin is primarily responsible for the redness of hair and skin. It isn’t a life-threatening or contagious illness. It might be unpleasant and make one feel insecure (Ghafourian et al., 2014).

Organs Affected

Vitiligo most commonly affects the forearm, hand, face and feet, but it can also affect the mucous membranes (wet lining of the rectal, mouth, genital and nose regions), “the eyes”, and “the inner ears”.

Symptoms

• Skin discolouration develops in patches around bodily openings, skin and genitals.
• Hair on eyebrow, eyelash and head or beard whitening or greying
• Mucous membranes lost their colour (Parsad, 2013).

Likely to affect

• Vitiligo affects millions of individuals throughout the world—nearly half of those who have it do so before they are 21. The majority of people with hyperpigmentation will have it for the remainder of their life. Vitiligo seldom goes away on its own.
• Vitiligo affects persons of all skin hues and ethnicities in almost similar numbers. Vitiligo affects around half of men and half of women.

Vitiligo is more likely to develop if a person has

• Vitiligo is close blood related
• Hashimoto’s illness (thyroid disease) or “alopecia aerate” are examples of autoimmune diseases (causes hair loss) (Allam & Riad, 2013).

References

Abdullah, Y. 2018, Immune Tolerance and Autoimmune Diseases, Researchgate. Available [online] at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/323883533_Immune_Tolerance_and_Autoimmune_Diseases

Ahmed, A., Saha, B., Patwardhan, A., Shivprasad, S. and Nandi, D., 2009. The major players in adaptive immunity. Resonance, 14(5), pp.455-471.

Alberts, B, Johnson, A, Lewis, J, Raff, M, Roberts, K & Walter, P. 2002, ‘The Adaptive Immune System’, Molecular Biology of the Cell. 4th edition.

Allam, M & Riad, H. 2013, Concise review of recent studies in vitiligo, Researchgate.

Bos, JD & Teunissen, M. 2008, Innate and Adaptive Immunity, Researchgate.

Ghafourian, E, Ghafourian, S, Sadeghifard, N, Mohebi, R, Shokoohini, Y, Nezamoleslami, S & Hamat, RA. 2014, ‘Vitiligo: Symptoms, Pathogenesis and Treatment’, International Journal of Immunopathology and Pharmacology, vol. 27, no. 4, pp. 485–489.

Luo, X., Miller, S.D. and Shea, L.D., 2016. Immune tolerance for autoimmune disease and cell transplantation. Annual review of biomedical engineering, 18, pp.181-205.

Mirzaei, H. 2020, Adaptive Immunity – an overview | ScienceDirect Topics. Available [online] at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/adaptive-immunity

Parsad, D., 2013. A new era of vitiligo research and treatment. Journal of cutaneous and aesthetic surgery, 6(2), p.63.