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The immune system was not built as resilient as it is in most humans but rather built through weathering diseases and adapting. The main ways the human immune system adapts to new threats to the health of the body is through the processes of active and passive immunity. Both of which can be accomplished in natural and artificial ways.
When an immune response is activated, certain lymphocytes are also activated and their main purpose is to recognize threats and produce proteins called antibodies. Antibodies are proteins that bind to antigens on the surface of viruses, bacteria, toxins and more. When the antibodies bind with these antigens, they neutralize the antigen and begin climbing them up. This clumping prevents the antigens from entering cells and also has the benefits of marking the antigen for destruction. Through these actions, the immune system is able to mount a rapid response to the invading antigen. However, each antibody reacts to a specific antigen, as such being introduced to a disease the first time or even the first few times means that the body is not responding with as much power as it could.Either antibodies are introduced into the patient’s body for short term protection or the patient’s body has been infected and has formed the antibodies needed.
When the immune system is activated, B lymphocytes are among the cells sent to help defend the body against invading pathogens, bacteria, and viruses. The B lymphocyte sees the invader and begins making antibodies to fight the invader. Once the attack is repelled, B lymphocytes turn into Memory T and B cells remain to keep watch for the antigens return. Since the antibodies can be reproduced long after the initial activation it is active immunity
Passive immunity on the other hand is a temporary immunity given through routes like the placenta and breast milk. Since the antibodies were given to the patient from a donor, the patient lacks the b lymphocytes to produce them on their own. So after a period of time, the protection wears off.
Vaccination, however, serves as a way to give artificial active immunity to the populace. Vaccines traditionally work by introducing a part of the antigen, a deactivated antigen, or a weakened antigen to stimulate the immune response without actually getting the person infected. The antigen at this stage is either dead or too weakened to replicate fast enough so the body has an easy time containing and removing it without too many symptoms. THe main downside is that it takes a lot of time,money, and research to produce a safe and effective vaccine.
MRNA Vaccines work a bit differently as they dont use the whole antigen, and use a smaller part of the antigen. The vaccine uses a specific strain of the virus Messenger RNA (MRNA) to initiate the immune response. It essentially uses only the needed identifiers of the antigen to trigger the immune system and cause the body to remember the antigen for the future. This new way of artificial active immunity has the potential to provide protection against a vast array of antigens and make the needed vaccination at a faster rate than previous
References
Pardi, N., Hogan, M. J., Porter, F. W., & Weissman, D. (2018). mRNA vaccines — a new era in vaccinology. Nature Reviews Drug Discovery, 17(4), 261–279. https://www.nature.com/articles/nrd.2017.243
Iavarone, C., O’hagan, D. T., Yu, D., Delahaye, N. F., & Ulmer, J. B. (2017). Mechanism of action of mRNA-based vaccines. Expert Review of Vaccines, 16(9), 871–881. https://doi.org/10.1080/14760584.2017.1355245
The Grand Challenge for the Future. (2023). SpringerLink. https://doi.org/10.1007-3-7643-7381-4
This essay goes into detail about the immune system and its response. The essay discusses how the immune system adapts through ‘weathering diseases’. Dre explains how the immune system can adapt in natural and artificial ways. He expands on how the immune system is activated by explaining the prescience of antibodies. The antibodies bind with the antigens which prevent the antigens from entering the cells, this allows the immune system to act fast and invade the antigen. The essay explains how the immune system acts fast by discussing B lymphocytes and how the B lymphocytes can later turn into memory T and B cells for later antigens. He talks about how they only attack specific antigens specific to that antibody. The antibodies have to be introduced to a patient’s body for short term protection or already formed from previous illnesses to work. Dre discusses passive immunity by talking about how babies receive immunity from the placenta and breast milk of their mothers. He talks about how this form of immunity is temporary though because the baby or patient cannot produce their out B lymphocytes for protection. He goes into vaccinations and how they administer artificial active immunity to patients. The antigens at the stage of vaccination are either dead or too weak to replicate enough antigens to infect the patient. He finally talks about messenger RNA or MRNA vaccines to initiate the immune response. It basically uses only the necessary identifiers to trigger the immune system to remember the antigen used in the future.