NURS 225 Chapter Notes - Chapter 13: Tumor Necrosis Factor Alpha, Innate Immune System, Cell-Mediated Immunity
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Within innate immunity, it"s the body"s first line of defense and it occurs more rapidly and early in response to a foreign substance. With adaptive immunity, the response is typically delayed unless the host has been exposed before: identify the function of cytokines, the 3 most important cytokines and their functions. Cytokines are short acting, biologically active, soluble molecules. Cytokines play an important role and are an essential component of host defense mechanisms and the primary means of with which cells of innate and adaptive immunity interact. (communication between cells?) The preponderance of functionally important cytokines is interleukins (ils), interferons (ifns), and tumor necrosis factor alpha (tnf- ). Interleukins are generated by macrophages and lymphocytes due to a signal of an invading microorganism or activation of the inflammatory process. They basically function to enhance the acquired immune response through alteration of molecular expression, induction of leukocyte maturation, enhanced leukocyte chemotaxis, and general suppression of the inflammatory process.
