Page 6 - Autoimmune diseases
P. 6
whose antigens are not yours, it mounts an immune
response. This includes initiating an inflammatory
response and making an army of immune cells and
antibodies to search out and destroy any cell with
that foreign antigen.
When the immune system is working properly,
it is a very effective and efficient means of keeping
the body healthy. However, certain factors can limit
the efficacy and specificity of the immune
response and cause it to react in ways that work
against the body. We will go over a number of
those factors that affect the immune system in a
negative manner.
Two types of immune responses
Because certain types of invaders are more
prevalent inside the cells and others are more
prevalent outside of the cells, the immune system
has two types of responses (Actually it has far more
than two but for simplicity's sake, we will consider
it two for now to make it easier to understand.) In
immunology, these two types of responses are
called TH1 (type 1) and TH2 (type 2).
