Human beings are born with biological protective
functions called the immune system. The immune system has the ability
to remove invading agents such as viruses and bacteria from the body
and thus to cure disease.
The immune system responds to disease agents in two ways. The non-specific
immune response tries to indiscriminately remove pathogens by recognizing
them as invading agents, whereas the specific immune response actively
removes pathogens by recognizing a specific part of a protein from
that agent.
The parts of a protein that the specific immune response recognizes
as a specific invading agent varies depending upon the individual’s
HLA (Human Leukocytic Antigen) genotype. These genotypes vary significantly,
for example, depending on race.
For instance, 60% of the Japanese have the HLA-A24 phenotype, whilst
the proportion of the HLA-A2 phenotype is only 50% in the US and
Europe.
Utilizing the human immune system to remove cancer cells as if they
were invading agents is called "immunotherapy". |
