An immune system treatment is a medical procedure to limit, boost, or modify the functioning of the human immune system. In some patients, the immune system is overactive or incorrectly identifies the body’s own cells as hostile organisms and must be controlled or re-directed. Other patients have immune systems that have been compromised or weakened, and an immune system treatment may be designed to restore normal functioning. A final category of treatment involves the use of medical technology to modify the immune system and enhance its ability to target or eliminate certain types of cells or viruses.
The immune system is made up of a web of different cells and tissues. White blood cells and the lymphatic system are the most crucial components of this system. When the immune system is functioning properly, it detects foreign materials, bacteria, and viruses, and mobilizes the body’s resources to attack them.
Some men and women suffer from conditions in which their bodies are unable to distinguish correctly between outside cells and cells that belong to the body. These disorders, called autoimmune conditions, cause the immune system to turn on the body itself. Some types of immune system treatments are designed to reduce such inappropriate responses in order to limit the damage.
In other individuals, the immune system does not function aggressively enough. In some cases, key elements of the system may have been damaged by disease or other medical conditions. In others, the immune system may never have properly developed. An immune system treatment for this category of patient enhances the functioning of the immune system and supplements a weak system to improve resistance to environmental pathogens.
Medical science has a long history of working to make the immune system more efficient. The process of vaccination works by training the immune system to respond effectively to threats that it has not yet encountered to foster the sort of immunity that a disease survivor typically possesses. This sort of immune system treatment is highly effective and a routine part of Western medicine.
In recent years, experiments have been conducted to encourage the immune system to more effectively attack various threats. Promising work has been done in the area of cancer treatment. The body normally has a limited ability to recognize and attack cancerous cells, but physicians are working to increase this ability in order to make the body better able to resist or defeat cancer.
