UNDERSTANDING CELLULAR AND HUMORAL IMMUNITY

摘要

The primary function of the immune system is to recognize and eliminate potentially pathogenic organisms from the body. An exquisitely sensitive and specific means of discriminating between self and non-self (foreign) has developed in mammals to identify and clear the antigenic target of an immune response. Such an immune response normally also generates "memory," so that a second exposure to the same foreign antigen will lead to a larger and more rapid reaction in an immune individual.