The Immune System: An Overview

Abstract

Any investigator who dares enter the complex and sometimes controversial field of psychoneuroimmunology is undoubtedly aware that the bridges between psychology, the neurosciences, endocrinology, and immunology are slow in building and must be tested and reevaluated repeatedly. Only in this way can a multidisciplinary field such as this, composed of so many equally complex and ever-advancing disciplines, establish itself as their emerging offspring. This process brings us closer to understanding the interactions between the bodily systems, from the psychosocial to the molecular. Nevertheless, even with these difficulties and in relatively little time, researchers have established a bidirectional link between the immune and the nervous systems. Today we are beginning to understand how such interactions can either set the stage for disease or enhance the prospects of health (1,2). This article provides the non-immunologist with an overview of the immune system as well as some basic guidelines for measurements of immunocompetence in humans.