Page 73 - The Miracle of the Immune System

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Cells on Duty in the System

ones. Therefore, the metabolism continuously renews itself. Yet the life
span of memory cells is much longer than the life span of other cells. This
characteristic helps them to protect people from diseases thanks to the in-
formation in their memories. These cells, however, are not everlasting.
Though a long time later, they eventually die. At this point, we are left
with a very surprising situation. Memory cells transfer the information
they possess to the next generation before they die. People are indebted to
these memory cells for not having to be afflicted all over again by the
same in diseases they caught in infancy (measles, mumps, etc.).
How then can this cell know that it has to transfer this information?
This surely cannot be attributed to the cell itself, but to the ability
granted to it by its Creator.

How Do the B cells Recognize the Enemy?
In a complete state of preparedness for war, the B cells then learn to
discriminate the enemies from the body cells before defending the body.
They do not need to expend much effort to do this, because these
cells and the antibodies they manufacture are able to recognize the enemy
directly from their shapes without any assistance. A receptor on their sur-
face meets the antigen for which it
was programmed, and binds to A B cell covered
with bacteria.
several small parts on it. Thus, the
antigen is identified as a foreigner.
In this way, B cells can easily recog-
nize antigens, such as bacteria.

What is the Function of

B cells?
B cells are like guards who are
always on the look-out for mi-
crobes. When they encounter an in-