Immunology Wars: Exploring the Immune System Through Star Wars

Hello and welcome to the first episode in a new series called Immunology Wars. Immunology Wars is a collaborative project created by Dr Nigel Francis with help from Ross Davy, Sean Holm and Severina Peneva. The four of us are all massive Star Wars

fans and as an immunologist I'm also passionate about trying to find ways to explain the basic functions of the immune system in a way that makes it accessible to everybody. Immunology Wars is our attempt to do just that to explain

the basic functions of the human immune system through the greatest movie franchise ever made, Star Wars. So as you may be aware the body will always try to

maintain homeostasis or balance. In Star Wars terms we can think of this as the balance between the light and the dark sides of the force, the light side represents the body and the immune system defending it, the dark side represents

pathogens attacking our body and trying to cause disease. In Star Wars there is a constant battle between the light and the dark sides of the force. Just as there is a constant battle between the immune system and the pathogens that are

attacking our body to try and make it their home. The dark side can take on many forms, think of this as Emperor Palpatine Count Dooku or Darth Vader as the different Sith lords with each one of these having their own agenda and desire

to manipulate the Force for their own personal gain. In immunological terms these different Sith lords are the different types of pathogens or diseases we may encounter. So, for example, they may be a virus or a bacteria looking to

infect our body cells or one of our own cells that has become cancerous and is trying to cause disease from within. When the immune system actually detects a threat it will try to eliminate it to restore balance or homeostasis.

This is same as when the dark side starts to gain and strength, for example, the emergence of Palpatine apprentice Darth Maul and the light side becoming aware of this threat and sending Obi-Wan to meet it and try to eliminate it.

What's really important to remember here, however, is that just like the Jedi Order the immune system is designed to be a peacekeeper, it should only do what is necessary to restore or maintain balance without any agenda of its own. So that is it should

only try to repair or eliminate a threat, however, if the immune system goes wrong and it can go wrong in quite catastrophic ways it is capable of massive destruction. We can think of this as when the Jedi Order starts acting at the command of

Chancellor Palpatine and the Galactic Senate instead of independently and elements of the Jedi Order are able to turn against the very thing they once served, such as when Anakin Skywalker succumbs to the dark side under the lure

of Palpatine and takes his place at the Emperor's side as Darth Vader. This is very similar in what happens in our own bodies during an autoimmune disease when the immune system starts to attack our own body or during cancer when one of our

own cells becomes cancerous and starts to proliferate uncontrollably. So this is just a brief overview and a snapshot of what we're going to be covering during Immunology Wars. In our next video Episode I, The Unseen Threat we'll be covering

physical barriers that stop pathogens from actually entering our body in the first place and the innate immune system which is the frontline against any pathogens that do manage to breach these defences. Join us then.