We spoke before about NK (natural killer) cells. In that context, they were being used for solid tumor cancer treatment. New research now find they also have utility against leukemia and lymphoma.
Tag Archives: Immune system
How we learn all this new stuff about measles
So, it turns out there’s a side benefit afforded us by the misguided folks (trust me, I have far more delectable terms to deal with these truants) who prevent the protection of the world. By not letting their kids (and themselves?) get vaccinated.
Continue reading How we learn all this new stuff about measles
A shot to be felt ’round the world?
We know the four letter curses, the 10 letter curses. But, we dread the 6 letter one… C A N C E R…… But, maybe not for much longer.
Stress affects our Immune Response
I was speaking with someone about some information she heard on the Anderson Cooper TV show. While that show was about divorce (four key errors that will indicate you are bound to divorce), Dr. Gottman mentioned something that intrigued her. That feelings of contempt (which is a form of stress) damages one’s immune system.
Super Injection!
We know that we often acquire immunity against various diseases by getting “injections” of dead or weakened bacteria or viri. Our body learns to recognize these “invaders” and when confronted with the “real McCoy”, it can draw upon its resources and repel the invasion or incursion. The end result is that our body’s learned responses keep us healthy.
Rapid Response Team
We all know that our immune response is what keeps our bodies safe. This process (actually, in humans, it’s processes) is when our body distinguishes from ‘self’ to ‘other’, attacking the ‘other’ to preclude their invasion of the whole body. The system gains complexity as it adapts to recognize various pathogens (invaders) more efficiently. This is called acquired immunity (immunological memory); it is one of the reasons we get vaccinated- our body learns to respond to this pathogen and similar types- which can take from 2 days to several weeks to fully develop. This secondary response is critical for our homeostasis, our ability to remain ‘self’ and not be overtaken by ‘others’.
New cancer treatment- one specific for the patient!
What’s the difference between remission and a cure? A remission means we can’t find OBVIOUS signs of cancer in the patient’s body. A cure means there are no cancer cells in the body- the body’s immune system has destroyed the cancerous cells. We use similar terms for HIV-AIDS, too.
Continue reading New cancer treatment- one specific for the patient!