X-linked Agammaglobulinemia

The immune system is one of the major systems of the human body. It protects the body from diseases and infections that could cause harm to a person’s body. To protect the body it distinguishes between unhealthy and healthy cells (National Institute). The immune system distinguishes between these cells to determine if the body is being invaded by a disease, or if the body is fine and healthy. It will fight off foreign contaminants if they are invading the body to potentially harm it. The immune system works to suppress any unwanted cells, microbes, etc. Without a proper working immune system, the human population would constantly be sick.
The immune system acts as a defense system against unwanted microbes and pathogens in a healthy human being. It prevents them from entering the body, or if they have already entered the body, it stops them from doing harm to the body. The three main tasks of the immune system are neutralizing pathogens that have entered the body and then remove them, recognizing and removing harmful substances from the body, and fighting against its body’s cells that have been altered due to an illness (PubMed Health).
To be able to determine which task the immune system needs to take to fight off the pathogen, it must be able to differentiate between self and non-self-substances. The immune system gets activated by the non-self-substances called antigens. The antigens attach to special receptor sites on defense cells which starts cell processes. If the body has come in contact with the antigen before, it will be able to respond to it more quickly (PubMed Health).
There are two different parts of the immune system. Innate immunity is the more general type; for this reason it is also called the nonspecific res...

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..., MIKOŁUĆ, B., PIETRUCHA, B., & WOLSKA-KUŚNIERZ, B. (2013). Clinical and immunological analysis of patients with X-linked agammaglobulinemia: single center experience. Central European Journal of Immunology, 38(3), 367-370.
Primary Immunodeficiency Resource Center (n.d.). X-Linked Agammaglobulinemia. Retrieved April 10, 2014, from http://www.info4pi.org/aboutPI/index.cfm?section=aboutPI&content=syndromes&area=5&CFID=36419223&CFTOKEN=3244
PubMed Health (n.d.). How does the immune system work? Retrieved April 8, 2014, from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0010386/
Stanford Children's Health (n.d.). X-linked Agammaglobulinemia. Retrieved April 12, 2014, from http://www.stanfordchildrens.org/en/topic/default?id=x-linked-agammaglobulinemia-90-P01666
VanPutte, C., Regan, J., & Russo, A. (2014). Seeley's anatomy & physiology(10th ed.). NEW YORK, NY: MCGRAW-HILL.