The immune system

It occurs to me that right now, a great deal of trouble results from public misunderstanding of the immune system. It would actually be impossible for most of the public to understand very much about the immune system because it is extremely complicated. It depends on elaborate correlation of literally dozens of different kinds of cells, along with complicated features of all other human cells and of pathogens. Understanding how all of this works further depends on fairly deep understanding of basic biology, which believe me very few people have.

Into this immense gulf of ignorance wade opportunistic charlatans who want to sell you snake oil, undermine trust in scientists, physicians and politicians, or achieve fame and fortune by persuading people to believe insane stories and act against their own and their families' interests. I'm not going to try to teach immunology 101 here, that would be futile.* But I think there are a few basic points that people can understand, that will be very helpful.

 

First, it's very unlikely that you want to boost or enhance or whatever word you want to use to make your immune system more powerful. Unless you are malnourished, or a smoker, or immunocompromised for some medical reason you very likely already know about, your immune system is as powerful as you want it to be. It's important to your long-term well being that the immune system respond to threats with sufficient aggression, but no more. Immune responses hopefully will get rid of pathogens, but they also cause harm to the organism they defend. Balance and restraint, not hyperagressiveness, are the hallmark of a well-functioning immune system. You want a response that's just enough, and that ends once the threat is over. 

An overaggressive immune system produces allergies, chronic inflammation, and autoimmune disorders. It can even kill you. In fact, that's mostly how Covid-19 kills you. It's the immune response that causes the lungs to fill up with fluid and debris, the blood to clot, and organ damage. That's why doctors have learned to treat severe illness with immunosuppressives. 

But, I hear you ask, wouldn't that mean vaccines are dangerous? No, no no! The immune system has two components, called the innate and adaptive immune system. The innate system kicks in right away, when a pathogen enters the body, but it isn't at all specific. It's the innate system that causes inflammation and indiscriminate collateral tissue damage from its attack on pathogens. It also isn't very good at combatting viruses. The adaptive immune system can recognize specific pathogens, including viruses, and target them directly, but it takes a week or so for it to kick in. But then it can remember the pathogen, such as the Coronavirus, and be ready to kick in right away if it shows up again.

That's what vaccines do: they prime the adaptive immune system to recognize the virus and be ready to knock it out quickly, before it can multiply out of control and before the innate immune system can get overexcited. But it doesn't do anything to your body that doesn't happen every day, when your immune system learns to recognize a novel pathogen. It just does it without you having to get the disease, because it presents the antigen -- the molecule the adaptive immune system uses to recognize the intruder -- without the need for a virus to replicate in your body and make you sick. 

I'll be happy to answer any questions, and maybe I'll take on these new targeted cancer treatments.

I do recommend that if you want to learn the basics, you can read Immune, by Philipp Dettmer. He leans a little too hard on anthropomorphizing metaphors, in my opinion, and his sense of humor can be a bit puerile, but he's a very good explainer.