“The operation of vaccines is an exercise by the army by maneuvering with a harmless opponent”

The human body defends itself against bacteria, viruses and parasites in various ways, depending on the needs. The immune system can be strengthened, for example, with a proper diet or exercise. For him, vaccines are like exercises with a harmless opponent for the army – says prof. Jacek M. Witkowski, former president of the Polish Society of Experimental and Clinical Immunology.

1. During contact with SARS-CoV-2, exactly the same happens in the body as in the case of other viral diseases that are experienced for the first time – says Prof. Jacek Witkowski
2. Defense against the virus is based on the production of appropriate antibodies, which are designed to bind the virus before it enters the cell
3. The immune system responds to the vaccine by producing antibodies and immune memory cells directed against the virus, the professor explains
4. More information on vaccines can be found on the TvoiLokony home page

The immune system and viruses – how do you defend yourself?

PAP: We are constantly attacked by bacteria, viruses and other microorganisms. How is it that we do not get sick?

Prof. Jacek Witkowski: Our environment is full of microorganisms that can cause a variety of infectious diseases, from banal colds to fatal pneumonia and sepsis. Fortunately, multicellular organisms have coexisted with pathogens for billions of years, and through evolution, a primitive immune system was first developed, and then an increasingly effective immune system. In humans, right after birth, it “learns” to recognize and respond to pathogens, either by contact with them (which can cause disease and subsequent immunization) or by vaccination (where immunization occurs without disease).

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What ways does the immune system kill intruders? Do different pathogens – bacteria, viruses, parasites – also work in different ways?

It depends on the intruder. Bacteria are eaten (phagocyted) by special cells – neutrophils (neutrophils), monocytes / macrophages and dendritic cells, which inside kill them with enzymes, free oxygen radicals and bactericidal peptides. The same and other substances are ejected from the mentioned cells and kill the intruder extracellularly. The same is the case with unicellular parasites (protozoa). On the other hand, multicellular parasites (worms) are destroyed mainly by eosinophils specialized for this purpose, which secrete substances very toxic to this type of parasites.

It is a bit different with viruses, which quickly enter the cells after penetrating the body, because only there they can replicate. The defense here consists, on the one hand, in the production of appropriate antibodies (immunoglobulins), which are designed to bind the virus before it enters the cell; this immune complex is then phagocytosed and digested like bacteria. A virus that has already entered the cell cannot be neutralized in this way. Such a cell must therefore be recognized as the site where the virus replicates and is killed before large numbers of virus particles are released from it and infect other cells. This recognition and killing of virus infected is dealt with by cytotoxic (cellicidal) lymphocytes with the symbols T-CD8 + and NK. The same cells also recognize and destroy cancer cells that arise in our body.

It must all work precisely like clockwork. How is balance managed?

Yes, immune processes need to be carefully regulated to only work when needed. This is because they are very energy-intensive as millions of new pathogen-specific immune cells must be produced, and these in turn produce large amounts of neutralizing and supporting proteins (antibodies and cytokines, respectively). The latter (and about 300 are known) regulate and control every step of the immune process; initially they intensify it by stimulating the appropriate cells, and then inhibit it once the pathogen has been neutralized. They also control the formation of the so-called immune memory cells that will be useful during subsequent contact with a given pathogen. The so-called regulatory cells derived from lymphocytes and macrophages.

The immune system and SARS-CoV-2

Why a healthy immune system does not attack its owner and why it sometimes does?

Early in life, and in part before birth, the immune system learns to tell itself from one another. Lymphocytes that could recognize and attack their own cells arise just as often as those that will be able to react to the pathogen. These autoreactive lymphocytes are recognized and destroyed in the bone marrow and thymus. To approximate the scale of the process, let me say that only about 5 percent of the thymus leaves. the T lymphocytes that arise in it; the rest is destroyed so that it does not attack the body’s own tissues.

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This selection process, however, can sometimes fail and autoreactive lymphocytes find their way onto the periphery (into the blood, lymph, and other lymphoid organs) and can lead to a reaction or even an autoimmune disease. Another possibility of its occurrence is when the immune system had no chance to “learn” the tolerance of some of its own antigens, because it was isolated from them. It is about the so-called immunologically privileged places, e.g. inside a healthy eyeball, or were not yet present in the body at the time of the learning process. An example of this may be sperm – the inside of an adult male’s testes is also immunologically privileged, but if this isolation is broken, e.g. in the case of an infection of the testicles with the virus of common parotitis (“mumps”), lymphocytes recognize sperm as foreign and destroy them, which may lead to infertility.

What happens in the immune system in response to SARS-CoV-2 – which destroys the virus and leads to complications?

When you come into contact with SARS-CoV-2, the same thing happens as with other viral diseases that are passed for the first time. The virus enters the body and can be recognized before it enters the cells, which in short starts the production of neutralizing antibodies. However, once it infects the cells of the lungs, heart, intestine or other organ, it causes an inflammatory response that can lead to a serious course of the disease, even with damage and failure of the affected organ or system, and result in death. Also, the cytotoxic effect of the cells that recognize SARS-CoV-2 infected cells ends up killing the latter, which, as I said, is beneficial, but also exacerbates the inflammation. That is, the immune processes directed against the virus and its cells are on the one hand beneficial (they neutralize the infection and reduce its effects), and on the other hand, they are harmful, as they “blow up” the inflammation.

The immune system and vaccines

How do vaccines affect the immune system?

The action of vaccines is – to use military comparisons – the exercise of the army through maneuvers, with a harmless opponent. Vaccines provide the immune system with information about the pathogen (in the form of a killed virus or bacteria, proteins isolated from it – antigens, and in the case of SARS-CoV-2 only in the form of the genetic code of one of the antigenic proteins of the virus, which is synthesized by our cells and safely provokes reactions immune system) without causing symptoms of the disease caused by this pathogen.

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The immune system responds to the vaccine by producing specific antibodies and immune memory cells against the virus. Consequently, when it comes into contact with a “virulent” virus, the immune system is already prepared for it and can win the war with it asymptomatically or with little symptoms of the disease. In this convention, disease without vaccination is learning “fighting”.

What are the most common concerns for people who are afraid of vaccinations? Do they have any grounds?

These fears are caused, on the one hand, by overwhelming ignorance, perhaps resulting from poorly formulated curriculum minima in primary and secondary schools regarding the biology of bacteria, viruses, the functioning of the immune system and their interactions.

On the other hand, even people who want to learn something about these topics (and do not want to read bloated and often written in a difficult language school or academic textbooks) are looking for knowledge on social media, and there – you can risk a statement – one true piece of information corresponds to dozens of false ones, e.g. . that vaccines cause autism, that they contain heavy metals that will make us cyborgs (if they don’t kill us, of course), and that this is one great experiment on humans that is a conspiracy of pharmaceutical companies (“Big Pharma”) with the powerful of the world to reduce the population people on Earth.

In connection with the SARS-CoV-2 vaccination on social media you can meet these “accusations”, but also others – the vaccine kills, especially the elderly, pregnant and their children, the pandemic (and viruses, in particular SARS-COV-2 ) there is no, etc. Unfortunately, the cited pseudo-information is also duplicated by people from the biomedical industry, even with professors’ titles, which scares me, and people with knowledge and trying to explain on such forums that such information is nonsense without any grounds are what they are the least ridiculed, and what is worse, they face insults, hate and threats.

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What are adjuvants?

And whether, for example, the so-called adjuvants that stimulate the immune system in addition, can’t exacerbate some hidden autoimmune reactions?

Adjuvants are an essential component of vaccines, stimulating the innate branch of immunity so that it can effectively stimulate lymphocyte-dependent immunity, i.e. the production of antibodies. They work by producing a slight inflammatory reaction, but their doses are selected so as not to harm the vaccinated person. For an autoimmune reaction to occur, a series of previous changes in lymphocytes must occur.

Of course, there are no binary relationships in medicine and it cannot be ruled out that a certain genetic basis will favor the intensification of autoimmune reactions after contact with adjuvants contained in vaccines or other. This is the basis of the concept of adjuvant autoimmune / inflammatory syndrome that has existed for about 10 years, but its proponents have not shown that the amount of adjuvants present in vaccines could lead to it, and they themselves conclude that the benefits of vaccination for billions of people by far outweigh individual cases. where such reactions could occur.

And how to take care of immunity yourself? Are proper diet, exercise and rest important, e.g. in the face of an epidemic such as the present one?

Yes, a balanced, varied diet is very important; as I mentioned, immune responses are energetically expensive. Not only the correct amounts and proportions of proteins, carbohydrates and fats are important, but also vitamins (especially D) and micronutrients known to have beneficial effects on immunity, such as zinc and selenium. The appropriate (different for different people) dose of exercise or exercise is always beneficial, although excessive physical exertion may lead to a decrease in immunity. Of course, the above applies to the resistance in general, that is also the resistance that we hope to build against SARS-CoV-2 (PAP).

Prof. dr hab. n. med. Witkowski – former president of the Polish Society of Experimental and Clinical Immunology, vice-president of the Committee of Immunology and Etiology of Human Infections of the Polish Academy of Sciences, director of the First Doctoral School of the Medical University of Gdańsk, and head of the Chair and Department of Physiopathology of the Medical University of Gdańsk.

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