Innate and Adaptive Immunity

The human body has the capability to protect itself from internal and external infectious diseases by the utilization of two immunity systems which are innate immunity and adaptive immunity (Vedhara & Irwin, 2005). One way to compare the systems would be to imagine the innate immunity system as a roving military patrol unit that is constantly observing and circling the body’s system for any imbalances while the adaptive immunity system is more like a sniper that has specific targets, plans an attack, and has learned from prior experience with the targets how to assassinate them.

Specifically, the innate immunity system searches for antigens on an ongoing basis by identifying infectious organisms that have entered the body and works rapidly to destroy the organisms with the same methodology each time the innate immune system encounters the organism (Vedhara & Irwin, 2005). There is not an increase in the period of time that it takes to eliminate the infectious organism based upon frequency of encounters. Rather, there is a systematic approach that uses skin and mucous membranes, blood-born molecular enzymes, lymphocyte cells, inflammatory properties, and phagocyte cells which scan the body and eliminate the organisms. Weber (2003) uses a further analogy to compare the innate immune system to that of a dog barking at a doorbell. Regardless of how many times the dog has seen a stranger ring the doorbell the reaction is still to bark at the ringing doorbell, which is comparable to what our innate immune system does. Regardless of how many times the skin gets infected the same response time and reaction results in a similar type of pimple reaction.

Adaptive immunity systems have a more rapid immune response as they specifically target the area which needs attention (Vedhara & Irwin, 2005). An immune response is released upon finding an exposure to an antigen that is familiar and this is the foundation for why immunizations are given to children prior to exposure to life threatening diseases such as polio (Vedhara & Irwin, 2005). It seems unclear if there has been a determining factor as to why there is an ability of T-cells to gain memory in the adaptive immunity process; however there is clear evidence that the process does occur and the time frame for a response by the immune system decreases upon re-exposure as well (Maris, Joshy, Baltimore, & Mantovani, 2000).

Maris, C. H., Joshy, J., Baltimore, D., & Mantovani, A. (2000). Investigating t-cell memory. Nature, 407(6800), 40

Vedhara, K., & Irwin, M.R. (2005). Human Psychoneuroimmunology. New York, NY: Oxford University Press

Weber, R. (2003). Our innate immune system: Barking at the doorbell. Dematology Nursing, 15(5), 471