The Immune System

The immune system is a host defense network comprising many biological structures and processes within an organism that protects against disease. There are two types of immunogenicity in therapeutic biologics development process: wanted immunogenicity and unwanted immunogenicity. Immunogenicity is a clinically critical criterion when selecting a biologic.

The immune system is briefly summarized. The cells of the immune system can be categorized as lymphocytes (T-cells, B-cells, and NK cells), neutrophils, and monocytes/macrophages. T cells (thymus cells) and B cells (bone marrow- or bursa-derived cells) are the major cellular components of the adaptive immune response. T cells are involved in cell-mediated immunity, whereas B cells are primarily responsible for humoral immunity. T cells originate from bone marrow and mature in the thymus, comprising helper T cells, suppressor T cells, Cytotoxic T cells, Memory T cells, and Natural Killer T cells