[Mars]

I personally have an autoimmune disorder that attacks my thyroid... basically my immune system produces anti-bodies that mark my thyroid as an invader. It's not at all serious, but other similar diseases exist, such as Lupus. It wouldn't be a huge surprise to me if an increase in immune cells made autoimmune disorders more likely

[MP-Ryan]

is there a disadvantage of having that many immune cells in your system all at once? be cool if you could implant a tiny immune system cloning factory in the human body and never have to worry about getting sick ever again.

That's not how the immune system actually works.

B and T cells (which are the antibody-mediating cells of the immune system that fight a variety of different ailments, among them viruses and some types of cancer) are produced from stem cells in large numbers on a continuing basis, BUT experience elevated levels during the presence of an infection/disease.  That said, both types of cells go through a rigorous genetic screening process within the body to ensure they don't attack our own healthy cells.

This process essentially takes one type of T cell which has been identified as having a cancer-type amino acid target and makes billions of copies.  The copies are ONLY able to target a particular protein expression pattern which matches the cancer it was previously identified as being typed for.  T cells have a natural life span of around 90 days, so they get flushed from the body fairly quickly.

The trouble with massive numbers of immune cells, even of a particular type, is that there is some serious potential for them to start attacking the wrong thing - which results in autoimmune diseases where the body starts to kill its own healthy cells.  This is partially alleviated by the initial screening, and further eliminated by the 90-day life cycle.  However, if we artificially and continuously boost the numbers of immune cells, we'll not only knock out metabolisms way out of whack (naturally creating that many cells costs energy from the body), but we have that much more potential to develop autoimmune disorders.

It's a delicate balance.

And more is not necessarily better.  Specific-target CD4+ and CD8+ T cells in sufficient numbers can wipe a disease from your system quickly, but it limits the numbers of other specificities you can have floating around - making you more susceptible to other diseases.  Unfortunately, these cells have to be extremely specific to target and kill disease, and one cell usually works for only one disease.

EDIT:  You hit it bang on Mars

[Colonol Dekker]

That comment about a tiny cloning factory and never getting old a few posts up. . . . Someone saw Heroes last night didn't they

[FUBAR-BDHR]

Isn't the body knowing what it needs to attack part of the process with creating the cells in the first place?  If so if you just had a bunch of them and a new variant of the cold showed up they wouldn't know what to do with it anyway.  Kind of the whole theory behind immunizations.  Give the body a sample of what it needs to know how to defeat so it knows how to make the cells to defeat it. 

[Mars]

It takes some very specialized cells to kill cancer, I'm not sure if they're existence is triggered by the appearence of the disease or if they always exist to kill cancer that hasn't taken off yet.

What we need is an immunologist in this thread.

[FUBAR-BDHR]

Well cancer cells are created in our bodies all the time.  It's the ones that become malignant or in some other way damage the body that are the problem. 

[Black Wolf]

Crap. I just lost the game.

Argh! I want to hurt you! I was... at least a year or more.

[colecampbell666]

I love you too.

[Stormkeeper]

Can't believe no one has asked the obvious question yet:

Does the army of cloned cells come with white armor, helmets, and blasters? 

And LAATs.

And AT-TEs.

is there a disadvantage of having that many immune cells in your system all at once? be cool if you could implant a tiny immune system cloning factory in the human body and never have to worry about getting sick ever again.

Too much of a good thing is still bad for you.

[MP-Ryan]

It takes some very specialized cells to kill cancer, I'm not sure if they're existence is triggered by the appearence of the disease or if they always exist to kill cancer that hasn't taken off yet.

What we need is an immunologist in this thread.

*waves*

I answered that already.

The body has several template immune cells that target cancer specifically (known cancer triggers), and in addition CD4+ T-cells can "learn" to fight particular cancer variants once exposed to the cancer protein fragments.

Because I haven't thrown it out there recently...

I have a Bacclaureate of Science with Specialization in Molecular Genetics from the University of Alberta.  Featured courses include molecular genetics, Mendelian genetics, evolutionary biology, immunology, virology, microbiology, and microbial genetics.  I've also taken classes on human genetics and genetic disease, an immunology course on cancer and viruses, plus another genetics course that was entirely about human cancer.

So... any other questions you'd like cleared up? =)

[MP-Ryan]

Well cancer cells are created in our bodies all the time.  It's the ones that become malignant or in some other way damage the body that are the problem. 

Sort of.

Cancer is not a disease, but rather a naturally occurring form of cellular decay.  DNA gets damaged (either through aging or exposure to various chemical and physical disturbances) and the cells lose their ability to do three key things:  (1) regulate cell division based upon density,  (2) commit cellular suicide when they realize that something has gone wrong with them, and (3) lose their ability to remain stuck together.  This leads to the perpetual growth unchecked by natural cellular destruction which is capable of spreading, through metastasis (breakage from the clump) throughout the body.  And its usually not the cancer itself that kills you but the immune system's reaction to it (exceptions in the cases of cancers of vital organs such as the brain, lungs, and liver).

Cancer cells are created in our bodies every day but are promptly killed by immune cells that wander the body specifically looking for markers that are unique to only cancer cells.

Problem cancers occur in areas where immune cells are either unable to get at them, or unable to recognize them.  This is where specialized cytotoxic T cells come into play and target the specific antigens of the specific type of cancer cell.

Cancer is primarily an affliction of the aged; however, with increasing levels of exposure to carcinogens, some forms of cancer triggered by non-natural causes are occurring earlier and earlier in life.  In short, anything that can damage DNA is a potential carcinogen... and there are lots out there.