The immune system is a complex network of organs, tissues, and specialized cells. It recognizes and destroys foreign invaders, such as bacteria or viruses, as well as some damaged, diseased, or abnormal cells in the body, including cancer cells. An immune response is triggered when the immune system encounters a substance, called an antigen, it recognizes as “foreign.”
- Dendritic Cells – Dendritic cells are antigen-presenting cells, (also known as accessory cells) of the mammalian immune system. Their main function is to process antigen material and present it on the cell surface to the T cells of the immune system. They act as messengers between the innate and the adaptive immune systems.
- CD8+ Killer T Cells – are cells that destroy cancer cells, cells that are infected (particularly with viruses), or cells that are damaged in other ways.
- Antibodies – An antibody is a large Y-shape protein produced by plasma cells that is used by the immune system to identify and neutralize foreign objects such as bacteria and viruses. The antibody recognizes a unique part of the foreign target, called an antigen.
- B Cells – B cells can be distinguished from other lymphocytes, such as T cells and natural killer cells (NK cells), by the presence of a protein on the B cell’s outer surface known as a B cell receptor (BCR). This specialized receptor protein allows a B cell to bind to a specific antigen.
- Cytokines – messenger molecules that help immune cells communicate with each other to coordinate the right immune response