Bacteria. Friend or Foe?
Through time, science and medicine’s main focus has been figuring out the mechanisms involved in sickness. The way pathogens cause harm in out bodies and how our bodies try to recover from such damage, the interactions between harmful bacteria and our immune system
Turns out, the way our body interacts with non harmful bacteria is also worth studying.
New research done on mice shows that microbiota (The friendly microorganisms colonizing our mucosal barriers) interacts with our immune system using non classical molecules, inducing a T cell mediated response that is not that of inflammation or the classical response to pathogen organisms. This specific T cell response produces signals for immunoregulatory and tissue-repair. This response not only helps our immune system fight off pathogens but helps repair damage.
How cool is that?
I recommend going to the source. This is a really cool article posted on The Cell journal.
Check it out here
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092867417315131
Based on population, there are more bacteria and virus cells than human cells. Of course, human cells are much larger than bacteria or viruses. But it does raise the question what does it mean to be human?
More importantly when it comes to the theory of evolution, how did these different organisms come together in such a way that they are replicated in our offspring?
Heady stuff.
Peace
#daemon-nice