ISSN:
1433-0474
Keywords:
Schlüsselwörter Bakterien
;
Viren
;
Immunabwehr
;
Anpassung
;
Key words Bacteria
;
Viruses
;
Immune system
;
Adaptation
Source:
Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
Topics:
Medicine
Description / Table of Contents:
Summary Our topic is the old conflict, “immune system versus microbes”, but this time from the microbes' point of view. In order to multiply, microbes need food and a place where they feel at home, a metabolic niche. In the background, danger is already lurking: a defence force is after their lives. They have to outwit it. As a rule, it is advantageous for the microbes not to kill their victim immediately, but to come to an arrangement with him to let him live a little longer, or even to share the greater part of their lives with him, at least until their reproductive cycle is completed and a new victim has been found. The microbes that slip through our immune defences today have been selected as pathogens in the course of evolution, in the arms race. In contrast to our normal flora, all pathogens, without exception, get the better of the immune system by means of tricks and deception. From the great treasure chest of our virulence factors, some of the most successful survival strategies are presented. The assumption that in normal individuals pathogens and defence are in a state of equilibrium is an illusion. Even in immune-competent individuals, all pathogens slip through the immune defences. Some get in through the back door in disguise. Capsules, biofilms, antigen drift and antigen shift are all successful deception manoeuvres. Or they spit poison and bile to paralyse the gatekeepers. Chemical blockages of the intracellular killing, antigen processing and antigen presentation are the tricks. Luckily for us, it is usually not in the parasite's interests to kill its host. If the parasite is not willing to share most of its life with its host, we doctors must intervene and shut the gates by force.
Notes:
Zusammenfassung Die Vermutung, Infekterreger und Abwehr befänden sich bei normalen Individuen in sicherem Gleichgewicht, ist eine Illusion. Auch beim Immunkompetenten unterlaufen alle Infekterreger die Immunabwehr. Zum Teil kommen sie „verkleidet durch die Hintertür“: Kapsel, Biofilm, Antigen-Drift und -Shift sind wirksame Täuschungsmanöver. Oder sie „speien Gift und Galle“, um die Torhüter zu lähmen; d. h. sie rufen eine chemische Blockade der intrazellulären Abtötung, der Antigenverarbeitung und der Antigenpräsentation hervor. Zu unserem Glück ist es für einen Parasiten meist nicht von Vorteil, seinen Wirt zu töten. Bei Parasiten jedoch, die letzlich zum Tod des Wirts führen, müssen wir Ärzte eingreifen und die Infektion verhindern bzw. den Parasiten bekämpfen.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s001120050108
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