A Canadian-born scientist, along with two others, was awarded the Nobel Prize in medicine on Monday for their

discoveries about the immune system. In a strange twist of fate, Ralph Steinman, 68, who shared the prize with American Bruce Beutler and French scientist Jules Ho mann, died on Sept. 30 of pancreatic cancer. He had been treated with immunotherapy based on his discovery of dendritic cells two decades earlier and is said to have prolonged his life. A brief look at our immune system
Bacteria and viruses on the outside try to enter our bodies through various means.
Adenoids Tonsil

Nobel worthy
Major parts of our immune system
The complement system

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A complex system
The immune system is made up of several types of cells and proteins that have di erent jobs to do in ghting foreign invaders.

Our natural defences

Skin: thick, very hard to penetrate. Eyes, nose, and mouth: protected by uids or sticky mucus that capture harmful attackers. Respiratory tract: cilia, tiny hairs that remove particles. Stomach: Intruders that get as far as the stomach and face a sea Large of stomach acid that Intestine kills most of them.

Thymus

Phagocytes
group of immune cells specialized in finding and "eating" bacteria, viruses, and dead or injured body cells.

THREE MAIN TYPES:

Antigen

White blood cells called lymphocytes originate in the bone marrow but migrate to parts of the lymphatic system such as the lymph nodes, spleen, and thymus.

Lymphocytes

TWO MAIN TYPES

Spleen Lymph Nodes Small Intestine Bone Marrow

These proteins ow freely in the blood and can quickly reach the site of an invasion where they can react directly with antigens molecules that the body recognizes as foreign substances.

defeated, it will strike much more quickly and more ercely against it. As a result, it will most likely be wiped out before there are any symptoms of disease (making us "immune" to the disease)
Sources: nobelprize.org

Defensive cells that ght bacteria If the immune are called system detects an immune invader it has previously cells

When activated, the complement proteins can trigger inammation attract eater cells such as macrophages to the area coat intruders so that eater cells are more likely to devour them kill intruders

Granulocytes: take the rst stand during an infection, attack invaders and devour them until they die. The pus in an infected wound consists chiey of dead granulocytes.

Macrophages: are slower to respond to invaders than the granulocytes, but are larger, live longer, and have far greater capacities. Play a key part in alerting the rest of the immune system of invaders.

Dendritic cells: Devour intruders; also capable of ltering body uids to clear them of foreign organisms and particles.

T cells: the driving force and the main regulators of the immune defense. Their primary task is to activate B cells and killer T cells.

B cells: search for antigen matching its receptors; Then receives proteins from helper T cells to become activated; B cells divides itself to produce new cells which kill the antibodies.

Did you know?

One of the best ways to boost your immune system is reducing stress Your body can develop an immune response against more than a trillion di erent things Breast milk contains immune components to protect the baby until it develops a strong immune system of its own You generate billions of new immune cells per day The brain, the eye, and the testicles are all parts of the body where this is almost no immune system. This is because of how delicate those tissues are.

Antigen

SUSAN BATSFORD, GRAPHICS EDITOR, TWITTER @SBATS1; INFOGRAPHIC BY TARA CORRAN/QMI AGENCY