Human Body And The Immune System

The medical practice of organ transplantation has grown by leaps and bounds over the last 50 years. Each year the medical profession takes more risk with decisions regarding transplants, how to allocate for organs, and most recently conducting transplants on children with adult organs. “An organ transplantation is a surgical operation where a failing or damaged organ in the human body is removed and replaced with a new one” (Caplan, 2009). Not all organs can be transplanted. The term “organ transplant” typically refers to transplants of solid organs: heart, kidneys, liver, pancreas, and intestines. There are two ways of receiving an organ transplant: from a living human or an organ from a

What role does the immune system play in keeping the body safe? Please be very specific [9 pts]

The immune system depends on the body’s structures to help it function. For instance, the skin acts as the “body’s first line of defense.” If a pathogen finds a breach in the skin barrier, it is the circulatory system that must now signal the immune system of the invader. Shortly after, white blood cells will be notified of the infection and will target and destroy the pathogen.

Describe how and why both types of adaptive immunity can cause problems with organ transplantation.

The successful use of cadaver organs was made possible by the development of immunosuppressive drugs like cyclosporine. The practice of utilizing immunosuppressive drugs has led to a decrease of transplant failure-rejection of a new organ- by the recipient’s own immune system (Kaserman, 2007). As research continues to look for new ways to decrease organ rejection rates, the majority of recipients take immunosuppressive drugs and will need to do so indefinitely (Ehlers, 2002). Kaserman states that as the transplant industry grew, a need for guidelines became apparent and hence requested that Congress create a governing body (2007).

Throughout time Organ transplanting has been an important medical procedure that has been present, not only in the United States, but around the globe. It is the process of surgically removing an organ from on patient and then transplanting it into the other. This practice is usually used when a recipient’s own organ fails to function properly or has

In order for transplants to be successful, there are steps that should be followed. From the beginning, the correct information should be given prior to

The organs that make up the lymphatic and immune system are the tonsils, spleen, thymus gland, lymph nodes, and lymphatic vessels. White blood cells (leukocytes), red blood cells (erythrocytes), plasma, and platelets (thrombocytes) make up the blood. Lymphocytes are leukocytes (white blood cells) that help the body fight off diseases. Two types of lymphocytes are B cells and T cells. Lymphocytes recognize antigens, or foreign substances/matter, in the body. Lymphocytes are a classification of agranulocytes, or cells (-cytes) without (a-) granules (granul/o) in the cytoplasm. B cells are created from stem cells, which are located in the bone marrow. B cells respond to antigens by becoming plasma cells. These plasma cells then create antibodies. Memory B cells produce a stronger response with the next exposure to the antigen. B cells fight off infection and bacteria while T cells defend against viruses and cancer cells. A hormone created by the thymus gland called thymosin changes lymphocytes into T cells. The thymus gland is active when you are a child and slowly shrinks, as you get older. T cells bind to the antigens on the cells and directly attack them. T cells secrete lymphokines that increase T cell production and directly kill cells with antigens. There are three types of T cells: cytotoxic T cells, helper T cells, and memory T cells.

Immunosuppressants are a class of drugs that suppress, or reduce, the strength of the body’s immune system. Some of these drugs are used to make the body less likely to reject a transplanted organ. Other immunosuppressant drugs are often used to treat autoimmune disorders. With an autoimmune disease, the immune system attacks the body’s own tissue. Because immunosuppressant drugs weaken the immune system, they weaken this reaction. It helps reduce the impact on the body. Almost everyone who receives an organ transplant must take immunosuppressant drugs. This is because your immune system sees a transplanted organ as a threat. As a result your immune system attacks the organ as it would attack anything else. This can cause severe damage and lead to needing the organ removed. The drugs allow the transplanted organ to remain healthy and free from major damage. If you’re an organ recipient, even the slightest change from the medication regimen can trigger an organ rejection. All immunosuppressant drugs carry the serious risk of infection. It also means that any infections get will be harder to treat. (Immunosuppressant drugs,

The demand for an organ transplant continues to grow and when an organ becomes available there are multiple precautions to take to make sure the body does not reject the organ. The certain anti-rejection (immunosuppressant) medication that needs to be taken before a transplant to decrease the body’s immune response from attacking a foreign object (the transplant organ). The medication also lowers the immune system. Therefore, the immune system does not cause the body to reject the organ. Statists have shown, that up twenty percent of patients that get an organ transplant, experience one out of the three organ rejections.

Some strategies for ensuring a healthy immune system are don't smoke. Eat a diet high in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, and low in saturated  fat. Excersice regularly and maintain a healthy weight. Also control your blood pressure and if you drink alcohol, drink it only in moderation and get adequate sleep. Take steps to avoid infection, such as washing your hands frequently and cooking meats  thoroughly. Every of our body, including our immune system, function better when protected from the enveronment. A healthy immune system can defeat invading pathogens and bacteria.

After the transplant, both the patient and donor embark on long roads to recovery depending on the transplant performed. In general, if the surgery goes well, the patient still must face the possibility of rejection (where the body fights off the newly implanted organ). Rejection is harmful to transplant success because the body fights off the new organ by making proteins called antibodies that go to the new organ and try to kill it. In order to hold back the antibodies that threaten the new organ, transplant patients have to take power immunosuppressant drugs to keep the level of antibodies down low enough for the organ to integrate into the body and start working [22].

The immune system treats good bacterias, foods, and other valuable substances as unwanted foreign invaders, so it attacks them. As it does this, white blood cells begin to build up in the lining of the gut, which causes inflammation.

Transplantations have saved many lives, but it does not always work. The organ or body part being transplanted may be rejected by the body, or it simply may not fit with the body like spinal implants, which “don't always weld with the adjacent bones.” However, the researchers employed a repair system in hopes that “by transplanting these reprogrammed stem cells, we hope to be able to better fuse these implants to the host bone." (ScienceDaily) This information is vital to the modern medical treatment, because it adds an additional tool to the limitations of transplantation treatment. There are many problems that may occur during the transplantation process, but this new system improves the success rate because stem cells are more flexible to the host body. This repair system can legitimize the use of stem cell therapy, since it will make transplantation both safer and more successful. The improved success rate of transplantations is a major advancement for both modern medicine and stem cell

The patient died nine days later. Another experiment conducted in 1984 attempted to use a baboon’s heart to save a newborn baby; the baby only lived for twenty days. The longest time a patient has lived with an animal organ is nine months, where the recipient received a chimpanzee kidney. The early failures of xenotransplantation, however, led many to believe that animal organs are too different from human organs. The recipient’s immune system recognizes the foreign organ and rejects it in spite of immunosuppressive drugs. Powerful immunosuppressive drugs are given to any patient receiving an organ, human or animal, in order to suppress the body’s reaction to the foreign organ. Without the immunosuppressive drugs, the body will reject the organ within a few hours after surgery (Natural Life 23).