The immune system is a sophisticated and, in a way, a beautiful series of interconnecting mechanism that helps keep an individual healthy and free from infection. Like other parts of the body it can malfunction and can even turn in on itself, so that instead of protecting, it can damage. A great deal of research is ongoing into the way the immune system functions and how it interacts with the the other tissues of the body.

Antibodies were one of the earliest features of the immune system to be discovered. These chemical structures are produced by the body in response to various foreign substances that might be encountered in the blood and body tissues. These “intruders” are usually proteins derived, for example, from micro-organism such as bacteria, or may even be substances that might be harmless to most people, for example grass pollen or foods such as milk or peanuts. The antibody reacts with the substances by latching on to chemical structures on each cell of the micro-organism, pollen grain or food. The offending cell, then becomes known as an ANTIGEN when it stimulates the immune system to produce ANTIBODY.

THE ANTIBODIES produced then bind to the ANTIGENS almost in the way that a key might be inserted into a lock. This initiates a series of responses leading to damage to the ANTIGEN, and in the case of a living antigen such as a micro-organism, to its death.

Sometimes antibodies are made against the persons own tissues. This can be very harmful. An example might be when antibodies are made against certain structures on red blood cells. As a result these cells can be so damaged that severe anaemia occurs.

See link below for a diagram:

WHAT IS AN ANTIBODY?

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