Cells of The Innate Immune Response
All white blood cells (WBC) are known as leukocytes. Leukocytes are different from other cells of the body in that they are not tightly associated with a particular organ or tissue; thus, they function similar to independent, single-celled organisms. Leukocytes are able to move freely and interact with and capture cellular debris, foreign particles, or invading microorganisms. Unlike many other cells in the body, most innate immune leukocytes cannot divide or reproduce on their own, but are the products of multipotent hematopoietic stem cells present in the bone marrow.
The innate leukocytes include: Natural killer cells, mast cells, eosinophils, basophils; and the phagocytic cells including macrophages, neutrophils and dendritic cells, and function within the immune system by identifying and eliminating pathogens that might cause infection.
Read more about this topic: Innate Immune System
Famous quotes containing the words cells, innate, immune and/or response:
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—Norman Mailer (b. 1923)
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—Herman Melville (1819–1891)
“The moral immune system of this country has been weakened and attacked, and the AIDS virus is the perfect metaphor for it. The malignant neglect of the last twelve years has led to breakdown of our country’s immune system, environmentally, culturally, politically, spiritually and physically.”
—Barbra Streisand (b. 1942)
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—James L. Hymes, Jr. (20th century)