On International Immunology Day, Natalia Santucci, a professional from UNR and Conicet, highlights the role that the immune system plays in protecting our body.

On April 29, International Immunology Day is celebrated. This date was established by the European Federation of Immunology Societies in 2005, and due to its great success, since 2007 it has been celebrated throughout the world. What is the immune system and how does it work? What is the contribution of vaccines for its strengthening? How does it change throughout our lives? Natalia Santucci, researcher at the Institute of Clinical and Experimental Immunology of Rosario (IDICER), a dual dependency institute of the Universidad Nacional de Rosario and from Conicet, responded to these questions.

The immune system, a complex and sophisticated network of cells, tissues and organs, plays a vital role as the human body's main defensive bastion against a wide range of pathogens and infections. “It detects external pathogenic agents and reacts against them. It has been seen in recent times that if one's own cell transforms into, for example, a cancer cell, the immune system can also detect it and try to somehow combat it to eliminate it so that it does not prosper."

The researcher commented that each person is already born with some stem cells of the immune system and that it develops throughout life. "For example, a baby in breast milk incorporates his mother's antibodies, which is why they are vaccinated during pregnancy to be able to transfer antibodies to them in a kind of natural vaccination process. We are born with an immature immune system, which we strengthen over time.” 

On the other hand, Santucci highlighted that throughout life, human beings face different pathogens and that the body generates cellular memory, which provides protection from antibodies, which will protect them in the long term. “Sometimes you need extra help and that's where vaccines come in. In this sense, vaccines introduce us to that memory so that, if we acquire the disease, it is not fatal or leaves serious consequences. That is why the vaccination card is so comprehensive and it is important to comply with it.” 

The immune system has cells in all organs and is transversal to all other systems. “It has cells that are patrolling the blood all the time, they are mobilizing and checking that pathogens do not enter. If they enter, they ensure that we can generate a defensive response and combat it,” the researcher explained and added: “There are two types of immunizations. The first is linked to exposure to the virus itself, which is why when children become infected with various diseases, especially when they start kindergarten, they go from a protected environment to a space where many different pictures circulate. The second are vaccines that protect us from many viruses, although they are not infallible. All of these are tools that come to assist us.”

Over the years, the immune system can weaken or lose strength, and those are the times when you have to be more attentive. “There are studies that indicate that from the age of 40 we begin to have some dysfunctions, but at the age of 50 it is common for viruses that were already in our body to affect us. For example: many people had chickenpox as children, which causes the virus, called zoster, to lodge in their body. “After age 50, your body is much more likely to develop shingles than someone younger.”

In addition, the professional commented that in old age they are no longer producing enough immune cells as before, and that reduces the level of protection. “We come with an accumulated memory that also goes back a long time, and the cells that protect us have much more to do with the vaccines that we have applied. In some ways, the potential to respond to a new agent is reduced and this is what happened in the case of COVID-19, where older people were more vulnerable because they had never been exposed to the virus. For this reason, vaccinations had to be done much more periodically than what happened with young adults or adolescents.”

Vaccination in older adults is very important, because it reinforces an immune system that has lost effectiveness. “The flu virus, to speak of a common virus, is super harmful for an older adult, which has the virtue of mutating and presenting variants seasonally. Every year a vaccine is applied that has the new variants, to be able to have defense against what we assume will be circulating.” 

Protect ourselves and others

Vaccines are an immunological method accepted worldwide, however there are people who question their effectiveness and consider them more harmful than beneficial to health. For some years now, an anti-vaccine movement has been growing, putting into debate an issue that was believed to be completely settled and that has had health consequences, especially in the midst of a pandemic. 

“This is a phenomenon that arose in Europe, at a time when there was very little incidence of endemic diseases there, although it is assumed that with migratory movements this situation will change. There they do not have the levels of vaccination that we have here in Argentina, where we are an endemic area for a lot of diseases due to socioeconomic issues. That makes having a vaccine a tool at hand to solve a health problem,” said Santucci. 

In this sense, although it is known that vaccines are not 100 percent effective, a large part of the population is protected thanks to their application. “Every scientific process has a margin of error and is a process of uncertainty, although that is not a sufficient reason to justify a denial of vaccines. A technology can work forever or for a while, but one cannot understand scientific knowledge as a revealed truth, it is not dogmatic. We are based on evidence all the time," and added: "Not applying a vaccine, when there is a possibility, implies a social responsibility because you are allowing the community circulation of a virus, which allows it to generate variants that can be much worse. In addition, people are exposed, such as older adults or people sick with other pathologies, who do not have the same immunological resources and the risk increases in these people. Also, it is an economic problem because the public and private health system will be saturated with a lot of patients with preventable diseases.” 

For this reason, the researcher believed that anti-vaccine movements have an individualistic view of life. “They argue that they do not want to expose themselves to risk, but there are also risks when you cross the street or when you take a plane, to name some of the daily activities that a person performs. So, living in society has risks and benefits, and in this case, if the tools exist to maximize the benefits, it is absurd not to take them.”  

Science mini-video contest

The Area of ​​Science, Technology and Innovation for Development of the UNR and IDICER (CONICET – UNR) will launch the Third Local Minivideo Contest aimed at students from primary and secondary schools in Rosario and surrounding areas.

“We propose an active instance of childhood and adolescence to be able to produce videos where we talk about immunology thought throughout life, not only in early childhood but also at other times,” explained Soledad Casasola, in charge of the Directorate of Communication of Science in the Area of ​​Science, Technology and Innovation for Development. 

In this sense, Casasola highlighted that educational communities are invited to participate in this third edition to give voice to the youngest people about what they are learning about the importance of taking care of the immune system. “The proposal is to be able to work for several weeks on the videos and then there will be an award ceremony.” 

“In the first contest we focused on vaccines, and last year on lifestyle habits. This year has to do with the phenomenon of the aging of the immune system over time, a process that can be slowed down with good habits, vaccination and other tools to be able to arrive in the best possible way. Sometimes this aging has nothing to do with the passage of years but rather with underlying pathologies that cause it, such as smoking, stress or malnutrition," Santucci specified and added: "The idea is to be able to promote the importance of lead a healthy life and know that this happens.”  

The bases and conditions are published on the UNR website (www.unr.edu.ar), and all educational institutions that are interested are invited to participate. “We believe that schools are where there is an interested and curious public eager to learn. We seek to awaken scientific vocations and build educational and training processes,” she explained.

Journalist: Gonzalo J. García/Photographer: Camila Casero.