EFFECTS OF HIV TO IMMUNE SYSTEM

Understanding the various components of the immune system and the complex signaling that takes place between immune cells is the key to understanding HIV. Both non-specific and specific lines of defense help thwart the invasion of pathogens. Non-specific defenses act quickly and indiscriminately to exclude microbes from the body or actively kill intruders. Mechanical barriers such as the mucus, hairs and cilia in the respiratory tract, and the flow of urine through the urinary tract are among these non-specific defenses. Skin oils and chemicals in perspiration and gastric juices also serve as non-specific barriers. Mechanisms involving complex chemicals signals such as fever and inflammation also act against a wide variety of pathogens. One non-specific defense involves phagocytes, a particular type of leukocyte (white blood cell), which acts as cellular “Pac-men,” engulfing and digesting microbes or other irritants like dust and pollen. If invaders have breached the non-specific defenses, the immune system will use a variety of leukocytes to mount directed defenses against specific invaders. Lymphocytes bind and respond to specific foreign molecules (antigens). One subset of lymphocytes, the B cells, matures into antibody-secreting cells. Another subset of lymphocytes, the T cells, includes immune cells that directly kill cancerous or virally infected cells. Some subtypes of T cells serve a regulatory function, releasing chemical signals that can stimulate or suppress a variety of immune functions. Because HIV preferentially infects one of these regulatory T cells, the so-called T (TH) cell, it can subvert and decimate the immune system, leading to AIDS. Helper T (TH) cells are critical to coordinating the activity of the immune response. The chemical messages they secrete (cytokines) stimulate the non-specific immune response to continue, and strengthen and boost appropriate specific responses. Macrophages alert helper T cells to the presence of pathogens. These phagocytes macrophages engulf bacteria and viruses, and can display foreign antigens-the identifying proteins of the bacteria or viruses on the surface of their cell membrane.   

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