In the Ironing It Out chapter pages 7-8, Dr. Moalem discusses the immune system our bodies use to defend us from diseases when humans become ill. Focusing to Big Idea 3, the acute phase response responds to our illness by locking down iron to prevent other invaders from using it against us. When cancer cells metastasize the acute phase response limits the iron that cancer cells can have because iron allows cancer to spread very quickly.Dr. Moalem describes the process as somewhat of a prison lockdown.
Explain why in the process of acute phase response, cancer cells and other bacteria can still gain access to iron, causing these diseases to spread and grow rapidly. And although the human body does not allow iron in openings such as the mouth, eyes, noses, ears and genitals, why haven't humans evolved to a point where iron cannot be used by other infectious diseases?
Dr. Moalem also exclaims how iron can have complex properties in the body, both helping the body perform and also helping diseases and malignant cells to grow. In an ideal situation, the body regulates the amount of iron in a human's body without having excess and without allowing other organisms to use the iron. This is in Big Idea 2, and on pages 2 and 7-11.
Thinking back to the ecology and behavior unit, how does the body maintain homeostasis in the situation of iron and why, in certain situations, does iron not become regulated in the body, like in hemochromatosis? Also what is it in iron that allows it to be so helpful for both humans and cancer cells and other bacteria?
Rudy Viswanathan (aviswan4@students.d125.org)
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ReplyDeleteAcute phase response is a process in which our body responds to an illness, infection, tissue injury, trauma, surgery, and immunological disorders in which homeostasis is disturbed. This relates to “Big Idea 3: Living systems store, retrieve, transmit and respond to information essential to life processes” since the body uses this type of response to maintain homeostasis and get the pathogens out of the body.Relating to the immune system we previously learned, this type of response occurs at the site of invasion and inflammation occurs. What occurs is that damaged mast cells release histamine. Histamine allows the capillaries to become more permeable, which allows platelets and clotting factors to reach the site of invasion. Inflammation is a non-specific type of response that allows to kill several pathogens.
ReplyDeleteNon-specific types of response means that it doesn’t target a specific type of pathogen. It is used to destroy all types. However, since it is non-specific, sometimes, pathogens and cancerous can get past this “high defense” and continue to replicate. Therefore, they can still gain access to iron, which allows these cells to grow and multiply.
Humans haven’t evolved to a point where iron cannot be used by other infectious diseases for several reasons. The first being that evolution takes hundreds of thousands of years to take place. Therefore, something in humans cannot “evolve” over several generations, but rather hundreds of generations. Secondly, we haven’t evolved because of natural selection. Cancer and deadly pathogens that get past the acute phase response can prove lethal to several people. Humanity hasn’t shown resistance and/or immunity towards it, which is why infectious diseases that grow from iron are still affecting humans to this very day.
The body maintains homeostasis in the situation of iron by something known as Basic Iron Metabolism. What this is is that this metabolism will make sure that iron levels are always steady. Everyday, iron is used. If extra iron is consumed into the body, it is stored for later use. Therefore, the irons levels used and conserved are always steady. If extra iron is used by the body, it can be detrimental as described by Dr Moalem. When Dr Moalem described hemochromatosis, he had said that too much iron can destroy internal organs. Hemochromatosis is a genetic disease in which iron levels cannot be conserved. Therefore, iron is consistently in the blood, damaging the body. Therefore, by this metabolism, iron is used in the right amount consistently so that no dangerous outcomes occur.
Iron is extremely important to both humans and pathogens for several reasons. Firstly, it promotes growth for both. Iron allows for muscle growth, as well as muscle function and brain function. It allows for hemoglobin formation, regulation of body temperature, and less fatigue. Iron is an oxygen carrier, as well as helping with neurotransmitters synthesis.
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to research being done on this topic, Dr Moalem brought up a very good example on pages 7-8. What he said was that research is trying to explore ways to prevent cancerous cells from getting iron. One idea that these researchers have is to mimic the acute phase response. This way, cancer will not be able to receive the iron it so desperately needs to grow and multiply. Additionally, more research has been done and more experiments as well to show that destructive periodontal disease and disease progression are associated with changes in serum components consistent with an acute-phase response. These serum components are antibodies found in the blood. Therefore, through research, a correlation is shown to help find cures to diseases.
Noella James
noellajames@gmail.com
Sources:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1390650/
https://ahdc.vet.cornell.edu/clinpath/modules/chem/femetb.htm
http://www.organicfacts.net/health-benefits/minerals/health-benefits-of-iron.html
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8664805
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12931763