BPRC Research | Immune System | What is it?
A large part of the research carried out at BPRC is concerned with the immune response. Thus, what is an immune response?
Everyday we, and all living animals, face a constant battle to survive, but we are generally unaware of it. Millions of different “foreign” organisms in the form of viruses, bacteria or parasites constantly threaten our health. In addition cells within our bodies may change into cancer cells. Our immune system has evolved to control these threats.
We become aware of our immune systems when we come into contact with pathogens (dangerous foreign organisms). When all goes well our immune systems find ways to kill these invaders, and although we may feel ill for a while (for instance with the common cold) we recover. Some pathogens are much more dangerous (for instance the AIDS virus, or tuberculosis or malaria), and these pathogens have usually found ways to get around our immune systems.
To understand how we can develop cures for these pathogens we need to understand the workings of the immune system: what does an immune system do?