What Is The Major Function Of The Immune System – Learn about specific immunity and non-specific immunity. Explore how the immune system works, and identify examples of specific and non-specific immunity. Updated: 02/02/2022

Non-specific immunity is generalized immunity that all humans are born with, including barriers, such as skin, chemicals, such as stomach acid and tears, and generalized white blood cells, such as macrophages. Specific immunity is learned by the body based on previous exposure to pathogens, and includes B-cells and antibodies.

What Is The Major Function Of The Immune System

No. Skin is an example of non-specific immunity. Non-specific immunity is the body’s generalized and ongoing defense system to protect against pathogens.

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The four types of specific immunity are vaccine-induced, disease-induced, natural-induced, and curative. Natural immunity is passed generationally. Curative immunity is not well understood by scientists.

Every second, every hour, every day, the immune systems in every human are waging war against pathogens. Pathogens are viruses, fungi, worms, protozoa and bacteria that cause disease. The immune system is made up of cells, organs, proteins and tissues that work together to prevent and fight disease. Without the immune system, the body would quickly be overwhelmed by pathogens and succumb to them. In fact, this is the decomposition that occurs after death.

When discussing specific immunity vs. non-specific immunity, it is important to remember the words innate and acquired. Non-specific immunity is innate, and specific immunity is acquired. This lesson will explore the difference between the two.

You wake up and you don’t feel well. Maybe your neck hurts, and you have a bit of a headache. It seems like a pathogen, or infectious particle, has broken your immune system! Your immune system is a group of tissues, cells and chemicals in your body designed to protect you from disease. Diseases are caused by pathogens, which are viruses, bacteria and parasites. There are two main parts of your immune system: the non-specific and specific immune systems. Let’s talk about the non-specific immune system first.

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I would definitely recommend to my colleagues. It’s like a teacher waved a magic wand and did the work for me. I feel like it’s a lifeline.

What is non-specific immunity? The non-specific definition of immunity is the immunity you are born with that provides generalized protection against pathogens. This generalized defense system works all the time to prevent infection. This is also called innate immunity. It includes:

Natural killer T cells, often referred to as NKTs and NKs, are a type of leukocyte. Leukocytes are white blood cells that help the body fight infection. They are rare, making up less than 1% of lymphocytes in the body. Are T cells specific or nonspecific? Natural killer T-cells help the non-specific immune system and the specific immune system communicate with each other, and are the only type of T-cell that is considered non-specific. These cells directly attack attackers.

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Basophils are leukocytes that have historically been misunderstood. These cells only live for a day or two, which made research a challenge for scientists. Research now shows that basophils gather in connective tissue, and are the only white blood cells to carry histamine. Histamine is a compound responsible for triggering allergy symptoms in the body. Basophils can also destroy early cancer cells before they become dangerous for the body.

Macrophages are the alarm bells and missile defense system of the immune system. Upon detecting a pathogen, macrophages sound the alarm by releasing cytokines into the blood system. Then they engage in phagocytosis, which is the process of a cell engulfing, and killing, another cell or organism.

Skin is the initial barrier mechanism of the non-specific immune system. This is especially important in babies who do not have specific immunity.

What is specific immunity? Specific immunity, also known as acquired immunity, is developed after the body is exposed to specific pathogens as a form of future protection. It is the body’s way of remembering what dangers exist and how to fight them. Since specific immunity is based on the pathogens to which a specific person is exposed, the specific immune systems of a person in Bangladesh, India, will look very different compared to a person in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Babies who have not yet been exposed to pathogens do not have a specific immune system.

Immune Response Definition And Examples

There are four types of specific immunity. Specific immunity can be gained through vaccination, exposure to a disease, natural immunity (which is transmitted generationally), and curative immunity. Curative immunity is still not well understood by scientists.

Vaccines use specific immunity to create resistance against certain pathogens. A specific immunity example is the DTaP vaccine. It vaccinates against diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis, and contains inactivated forms of toxins produced by the pathogens that cause these diseases. By exposing the immune system to these toxins, memory cells are created that scan the body for infection and help protect against it. DTaP is routinely given to children starting at two months of age, and boosters are required during pregnancy, or every 10 years in adults.

The store of antibodies in the body is called immune memory. As time passes without exposure to a specific pathogen, fewer and fewer antibodies are made to that pathogen. The vaccines must be strengthened when the immune memory decreases to the point that the body is no longer protected. However, some threats are so dangerous that the immune memory never fades. This is the case with smallpox. An excellent example of specific immunity is the development of the first quasi-vaccine in 1796. It was based on an observation that milkmaids never developed smallpox, but almost all chickenpox. It was discovered that once a person contracted chickenpox, they would not contract smallpox because of the similarity of the viruses. In other words, cowpox gave generalized specific immunity against all pox. Cowpox is mild, while smallpox is extremely dangerous. Therefore, many people have been infected with smallpox, as a protection.

The immune system is made up of cells, organs, proteins and tissues that work together to prevent and fight disease. Diseases can be caused by pathogens, which are usually bacteria or viruses that intend to colonize the body. There are two types of immunity. The first is non-specific immunity, also called innate immunity. It is the immunity you are born with that provides generalized protection against pathogenic invaders and works continuously. The first defense is skin, which provides a physical barrier. Other types of non-specific immunity are chemical deterrents, such as stomach acid, and cells, such as leukocytes. Leukocytes are white blood cells that help the body fight infections. One type of non-specific leukocyte is the macrophage, which kills any invader it sees through a process called phagocytosis. During phagocytosis, the macrophage will engulf and kill the invading cell or organism. Natural killer T-cells are part of the non-specific immune system, and also direct attacks.

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The second type of immunity is specific immunity, also known as acquired immunity. Specific immunity can only be activated by specific pathogens that the body has previously encountered. If you are exposed to a pathogen, the specific immune system will destroy the invader, then remember its characteristics and how to fight it. The B cells are created to generate antibodies, and are designed to respond to only one pathogen. Antibodies are Y-shaped proteins that travel throughout the body, searching for pathogens. Specific immunity can be acquired through vaccines that teach the body about pathogens, resulting in antibody production for a disease the body has never encountered. Immune memory is the store of antibodies in the body, and contains all pathogens that the body has encountered in the past.

Your defense system starts with non-specific immunity, also known as innate immunity. This system is made up of general mechanisms that your body deploys every day to keep you safe. They always work in the background, no matter what pathogens you are exposed to. They do not distinguish who they fight!

There are many types of non-specific immunity. One of the biggest examples is your skin, which forms a tough, mechanical barrier that serves as the initial barrier to keep out pathogens. Your skin cells actually secrete small proteins that also destroy viruses. Other barriers to pathogens include: tiny hairs in your lungs that filter out bacteria in mucus, the acid your stomach secretes to break down food and any pathogens that enter through your food, and specialized lining in delicate body parts, like your lungs. Below is a micrograph taken of cilia lining the tissue in your lungs.

There are also specialized immune cells that fight intruders once in the body. The first type of cell is a macrophage, which patrols the body through your blood. When an invader enters, macrophages move into the tissue like soldiers and remove the threat by swallowing the pathogen and digesting it in a process called phagocytosis, as shown below.

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Basophils are cells that secrete chemicals called histamines, which call more immune cells to the scene. T cells are a type of immune cell that functions in both the non-specific and specific immune systems.

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