Immune system triggering

What has become an even greater concern in recent years is the phenomenon known as multiple chemical sensitivity disorder triggered by exposures to many chemicals in the environment. Synthetic chemicals are all around us. They are in the products we use, in the clothes we wear, in the food we eat, in the air we breathe at work. Because chemicals are everywhere in the environment, it is not possible to escape exposure. For this reason many people have become sensitized to the chemicals around them. In fact, it is estimated that 15% of the population has become sensitized to common household and commercial products. For some people the sensitization is not too serious a problem. They may have what appears to be a minor allergy to one or more chemicals. Other people are much more seriously affected. They may feel tired all the time, and suffer from mental confusion, breathing problems, sore muscles, and a weakened immune system. Such people suffer from a condition known as Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS). 

Recoverin is aberrantly expressed in malignant tumors localized outside the nervous system. This was found to trigger the immune system resulting in the production of autoantibodies inducing the degeneration of the retina. 

A cascade of proteins of the immune response that can be triggered by antigen-antibody complexes and by the innate immune system (e.g. exposure to microbial polysaccharides) to raise the immune response. Complement proteins can detect and bind to foreign material or immune complexes and label them for phagocytosis. They can also cause inflammation by directly degranulating mast cells and releasing chemokines to recruit other immune cells into the affected area. 

A wide diversity of herbal remedies have purported abilities to stimulate defense functions. Complexes of carbohydrate and lignin, which are present in some herbs, modulate enteric immune functions (Kiyohara et al, 2000), and the changes in cytokine secretion (Matsumoto and Yamada, 2000) can trigger systemic responses. The polysaccharides present in other herbal medicines augment production of immunoglobulin (Ig) A by the Peyer s patches in the small intestine (Sakushima et al, 1997 Yu et al, 1998). The responses of the enteric immune system to lectins are variable (Pusztai 1993), and can elicit systemic responses (Lavelle et al, 2000). Other phytochemicals provide protection by inducing detoxification pathways in mucosal cells (Williamson et al, 1998). 

The cell surface contains antigens, which are referred to as CD, which stands for cluster of differentiation. The antibodies are produced against a specific antigen. When administered, usually by an intravenous injection, the antibody binds to the antigen, which may trigger the immune system to result in cell death through complement-mediated cellular toxicity, or the antigen-antibody cell complex may be internalized to the cancer cell, which results in cell death. Monoclonal antibodies also may carry radioactivity, sometimes referred to as hot antibodies, and may be referred to as radioimmunotherapy, so the radioactivity is delivered to the cancer cell. Antibodies that contain no radioactivity are referred to as cold antibodies. 

The main site of the mucosal immune system in the gut is referred to as gut-associated lymphoid tissue (GALT), which can be divided into inductive and effector sites. In the small intestine, the inductive sites are in the Peyer s patches, which consist of large lymphoid follicles in the terminal small intestine. The contact with external antibodies triggers a series of cascade events in the body based on immune response (Brandtzaeg et al., 1999). 

The skin immune system is challenged everyday with an enormous variety of potential sensitizers which penetrate the stratum corneum and trigger the two major populations of dendritic cells (DCs)... 

Inflammation—Set of responses triggered by the immune system when white blood cells congregate around a wound or other threat of infection. Inflamed tissue is warm, red, swollen, and painful. 

Rheumatoid arthritis—Disease in which immune system cells attack tissues in the joints, triggering inflammation, pain, swelling, and, if left unchecked, crippling damage to the joints of the hands, arms, and legs. RA is treated with nonprescription anti-inflammatory drugs, but some recombinant proteins that target inflammation are used to treat RA. 

Tjjl cells (i.e. T helper type 1 lymphocytes) are the cellular population that triggers a cell-mediated immune response. This is the most effective means by which the immune system can identify and destroy many foreign agents, particularly viruses, bacteria or parasites, that have entered host cells. 

The cytokines are of considerable medical importance due to their essential function in controlling the immune system, in defense reactions and for processes of inflammation. Great efforts are therefore being made to elucidate the structure and mechanism of activity of the cytokines and their corresponding receptors and to characterize the components of the signals triggered by cytokines. Many of the cytokines have the cha-... 

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