Immunotherapy uses the body’s internal self-defence systems to treat diseases such as cancer.Credit: wildpixel/Getty Images
Immunotherapy enhances the body’s natural defences rather than introduce potentially harmful chemicals to treat diseases such as cancer. However, for researchers to properly harness the power of the immune system, they must first unravel the seemingly countless cells and interactions involved.
In a new publication titled, "Immunology: Insight into the diversity of cells & signalling pathways", the life science and diagnostics provider, Cisbio, has curated critical information on innate and adaptive immunity into a comprehensive guide for researchers. Through a selection of infographics, the booklet sheds light on the key immune cells, their characteristics, and the signalling pathways that lead from detection to destruction of diseases.
Our internal self-defence is made up of the innate immune response, comprising an army of white blood cells that are on guard to tackle abnormal cells or rush to the aid of inflamed tissues, and the adaptive immune response, which includes cells that learn to recognize a threat and respond rapidly with the appropriate antibody.
A new illustrated booklet from Cisbio called Immunology: Insight into the diversity of cells & signalling pathways.
Cisbio’s booklet identifies the key players in each system and explains how they interact. On the frontline of the innate immune response we find natural killer cells, which patrol the surface of tissues and destroy any cells they find behaving abnormally. Then there are the macrophages, which live within tissue cells and are the first to detect and destroy foreign invaders. When macrophages are overwhelmed by severe infections, they trigger inflammation in a cry for help from other immune cells. Neutrophils are usually first on the scene, where they help capture, neutralize and remove offending pathogens, while sending out chemical signals to attract as many immune cells as needed to deal with the crisis.
Dendritic cells lie on the boundary between the innate and adaptive immune responses. These are powerful, last-resort immune cells that break pathogens down into small fragments to ‘deliver’ to T-cells and B-cells, the two major players in the adaptive immune response. T-cells go through a rigorous training programme to recognize a host cell that has become tumorous, infected or damaged, so it can start the message chain that will activate an adaptive immune response. When presented with a pathogen, B-cells transform into plasma cells, which secrete antibodies specific to the pathogen, or they become memory cells, which preserve the body’s ability to respond quickly to a pathogen should it appear again.
Understanding how different immune cells detect injured, invasive or cancerous cells and translate that information into defensive action is key to immunotherapy research. By elucidating these complex mechanisms, this document provides researchers a strong knowledge base from which to develop the appropriate experiments to search for compounds that could treat cancer and other diseases.