Intention is one of the many powerful tools that we use as Rolfers. Having awareness around cellular processes refines our ability to hold influential thoughts while we work with our clients. The immune system is a cellular process maintaining our system free of infection from bacteria, viruses, funguses, parasites and even cancers. How the body maintains this balance is dynamic, and we influence this field of events every time we place our hands on our clients.

The health of our clients depends on their immune system functioning appropriately. In order to engage with their story, it is important that we have a basic understanding of this biochemical system. This article is intended to discuss the cellular events of the immune response that happen within the human system every day. Intention and awareness of the immune system together enhance our ability as Rolfers to contact the events taking place within our clients’ experiences.

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SIMPLE AND COMPLEX

Our immune system has a simple complexity of function; simple in the engineering and complex in its execution. Simply described, the immune system is a collection of white blood cells called lymphocytes and their proteins that have the ability to distinguish between that which is self, and that which is not self. Lymphocytes are made in the thymus and bone marrow. Once differentiated in function, they move through tissue to locate themselves in lymph structures such as the adenoids, tonsils, lymph vessels, lymph nodes, spleen, Peyer’s patches in the small intestine, appendix, skin, and lungs. These are the locations in which the immune response takes place. When lymphocytes recognize foreign cellular material, they promptly destroy and eliminate it. In other words, our immune system is constantly cultivating the monoculture that is our self.

The means by which this is done are beautifully complex. It is first necessary to understand how the body defines self. Every cell of the body has a fingerprint, specific to the individual, on the outside of each cellular membrane. Membrane proteins (See Structural Integration, June 2005; “Insane in the Membrane”) involved in cell recognition embed through the membrane and protrude on the outside of the cell. From there, attached to that protein, is a specific series of sugar molecules.

“Sugars refer to the biochemical group of molecules called saccharides, which are ring shaped molecules composed of carbon, oxygen and specifically placed alcohol groups. These molecules have an infinite variety of shapes that they can make on the cell surface and they relay quite a bit of information about the cell itself. Different tissues will have a unique membrane fingerprint within the same person as a means of communication – cells know where they are by feeling the surface of the tissues they find themselves within.

There is one master fingerprint found on all the cells which is a unique fingerprint for that individual. Bacteria, viruses and other foreign material will have their own uniquely different membrane fingerprint. The cells of the immune system are constantly circulating and checking for molecular membrane fingerprints that are not of the self.

IMMUNE RESPONSE

The immune response is the defense of our multi cellular being from infection by foreign cellular systems (also called antigens) and their molecular substances. When invading bacteria are infecting our system, there is a cellular battle taking place. These bacteria have a specific cellular target that varies according to the strain of bacteria involved. What they do have in common is that usually they somehow break open a host cell, use the contents as fuel for their own multiplication and propagations, otherwise interrupted.

Viruses cannot replicate themselves. They locate a host cell where they either inject their DNA directly into the cell or they completely enter the cell themselves. They proceed to dominate the cell, interrupting whatever the cell was doing, and forcing it to make copies of the viral DNA. Once many copies of the viral DNA have been made, they then trick the cell into making hundreds of new viruses. This overproduction of the new generation of viruses will then break open the cell, killing it, and dispersing an exponential increase of viruses to repeat the same cycle again. These cellular attacks are quite aggressive and require our system to be vigilantly aware of what other cellular organisms are circulating in our tissues.

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KEEPING WATCH

The mechanism to detect these foreign invaders involves immune cells called B lymphocytes (produced in bone marrow) that have proteins on their cell surface that are designed to bind the molecular fingerprint on the surface of the invading infection. It is a lock and key fit that will cause the two to become stuck together. The immune system is unable to predict the type of infectious material it will encounter, let alone the specific cell surface pattern, so it has had to devise another system.

The proteins on the surface of the B lymphocyte are meant to bind all varieties of antigens found in the world. To do this, each B lymphocyte creates different possibilities in their membrane proteins. Thus every B lymphocyte has different combinations of shapes that might fit an unknown invader. The system combines millions of these cells, with millions of different membrane variations to patrol the body for the infinite amount of possibilities of antigens. This is the first line of defense against bacteria and viruses that have already made it into a person’s system.

It is interesting to note the question: why do the B lymphocytes avoid binding to our own cells? The biochemical self is defined in utero. Immature B cells in the fetus encounter and bind to the cells of self, and in this state, those B cells are destroyed. By the time of birth, all the immune cells that recognize self are gone and only those who will recognize non-self are left to patrol for foreign cellular material.

There are individuals whose systems have failed to remove those self-binding B lymphocytes. When the immune system recognizes self as the antigen and even initiates removal of those tissues, this is an autoimmune disease. Lupus is one such disease where the immune system is attacking its own nucleic acids.

FROM DETECTION TO ACTION

Once a B lymphocyte has bound to an identified foreign cell, a few different things take place. First of all, it is useful to make more of that particular B lymphocyte since it contains the appropriate membrane protein to bind the invading antigen. To do this, another immune cell participates. Called the helper T cell (T lymphocytes develop in the thymus gland), it recognizes when a B lymphocyte has trapped an antigen, and stimulates the B lymphocyte to divide multiple times. This will then increase the chance of binding other loose and identical bacteria or viruses.

Interestingly enough, while the B lymphocyte divides to increase its numbers, it produces two types of cells (at a high quantity): effector B cells and memory B cells. The effector B cells will have the perfect protein to bind the infecting antigen and will also produce antibodies that will bind the invader. Memory B cells, on the other hand, are long-term cells that will remain in the person’s system long past when the infection has gone. This is to create an increased immunity to that specific antigen if exposure were to happen again. It would be recognized much quicker and the immune system would be able to respond that much faster. As we get older, our tissue systems have many collections of these memory B cells to all the infections to which we have been exposed, increasing our immunity to everyday antigens.

Antibodies are proteins produced by B cells; they have the capability of binding these foreign antigens. In fact they can bind two of them at a time. When there are many bacteria or viruses in one area, and they have been recognized by a B lymphocyte, then many antibodies to that invader will be released in the area. The antibodies will bind them all together in one big clump along with the B lymphocytes. This is the immune system version of putting the handcuffs on, restraining the antigens from further infectious activity.

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SEARCH AND DESTROY

Binding and recognizing that there is a foreign cell is the first part of the immune response. The second part is the destruction of the cellular infection. There is yet another cell type found in the immune response called macrophages. These circulatory cells are large and are designed to digest other cells.

First a macrophage recognizes a B lymphocyte or antibody that has bound an antigen. A macrophage then wraps itself around the infectious material and pulls it into its cellular space. Once in the cell, it secretes digestive enzymes with an acidic solution into the pocket containing the bacteria or virus, which digests and destroys the life forms much like our stomach does to our lunch.

BREACHED THE PERIMETER

The immune system has another ability to address infection once it has compromised a healthy cell. There are killer T lymphocytes that circulate amongst tissue looking for evidence on the membranes of cells to indicate infection. When a cell has been infected, there will be a different signal on the membrane surface indicating the attack taking place. This killer T cell then releases a specific protein which creates holes in that cell membrane causing its contents to spill out, killing the cell. This arrests the development of the infectious material found inside.

AIDS

Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, AIDS, is a disease of the immune system. It involves a virus (HIV) that specifically attacks the helper T lymphocytes of the immune response. The helper T cells are the ones amplifying the effect of the antibodies against infection, which normally heals in due time. Without the helper T cells, a person is more vulnerable to infection. Infections will become much larger and system-wide, which is usually the health concern of those infected with this aggressive virus.

ABILITY TO RESPOND

There are approximately two trillion lymphocytes in the human body. This cellular mass makes the immune system comparable to the cellular mass of the liver or brain. Without this important ability to distinguish the difference between self and non-self, death would be certain. Our human vertebrate systems are constantly going through the immune response as we live our lives.

REFERENCES

Mathews, Van Holde: Biochemistry. Benjamin/Cummings Publishing Company, New York, 1996; pp. 244-253.

Alberts, B.: Molecular Biology of the Cell, 3`d edition. Garland Publishing Inc., New York; 1994; pp. 1195-1254.