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Innate And The Immune System

Decent Essays

In this essay the link between the two different parts of the immune system should be explained. The immune system consists of the innate immune system on the one hand and the adaptive immune system on the other. The innate system reacts fast and protects the body through barriers or special cells, but the specificity of this system is very low. Contrary to the innate system acts the adaptive system. It is needed if the innate system fails and therefore takes more time to get activated, but its specificity is very high. This essay should describe, how these two systems work together and how they are linked up to each other.

The immune system consists of two parts, the innate and the adaptive part. The biggest difference is, that the adaptive immune system is very specific for certain pathogens, and it has the ability to remember. That means, that the adaptive immune system gets better after each infection with the same pathogen. (Roitt, et al., 1996)
The first contact from a pathogen with the body is always with the innate immune system. It is here to prevent the body from an infection through pathogens and it forms the first defense line. The innate immune system consists of physical barriers like the skin, proteins like the complement and certain cells, primarily leucocytes. The two main …show more content…

They are located in areas, where antigens can enter the body, for example in the epithelium of the skin or the gastrointestinal tract. Dendritic cells catch antigens and transport them to the lymph nodes. There parts of these antigens are presented to the T lymphocytes, which then recognize the antigen. When antigens get through the epithelium, they are engulfed by macrophages, which are located in the tissue, and presented to the T cells. If pathogens get into lymphoid organs, they will also be captured by either dendritic cells or macrophages and presented to the T

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