Men's health blog

YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM: FROM MONOCYTES TO MACROPHAGE
The neutrophils and monocyte/macrophages don’t remain in the blood stream for long. Soon, they squeeze through tiny pores in the blood vessels, holes smaller than they are. How do they fit? Through a process called diapedesis, which means pushing small parts of themselves through the pore at a time, much the same way you’d work a half-filled water balloon through a hole in a fence.
When they arrive in the tissue, the monocytes begin to grow, swelling to four or five times their original size. As they grow they become more and more powerful, developing extra energy sources and poison packets. Pretty soon, they’re giant-sized. To match their new stature comes a new name: macrophage, which means “giant eater.”
And giant eaters they are. Neutrophils can only swallow and destroy 5 to 20 antigens before they die of “overeating.” The giant eaters, however can gobble up as many as 100 antigens. And they eat and kill bigger antigens than the smaller neutrophils do. In fact, one of the macrophages’ jobs is to help clear the battlefield by eating up dead neutrophils.
There are still more differences between the two kinds of cell eaters. While the neutrophils are constantly on patrol, most of the macrophages stand guard at strategic points in the body. There they remain, giant sentries, for months or even years, our first line of defense against antigens.
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MORE COMMON IMMUNE-SYSTEM DISEASES: DIFFERENT TYPES OF CANCER
Breast cancer may or may not produce pain. Symptoms of the cancer may be severe or may not appear until later on. There may be tenderness in the breasts, hardening or thickening of the breast or a sore on the breast. A lump may be discovered, and there may be swelling under the arms. The nipple may be ulcerated or inverted (turned in). There may be a discharge from the nipple, which can contain a bloody or a nonbloody fluid.
Pancreatic cancer may cause severe symptoms or no symptoms, although there is generally a loss of appetite and loss of weight as the disease progresses. The cancer may be characterized by severe abdominal pain, often in the center but spreading out to both sides of abdomen. In many cases the pain goes through to the back. In fact, back pain may predominate, causing the person to be treated for a back problem. If the head of the pancreas is involved, the bile ducts can be obstructed, and there is usually a painless jaundice (the skin and the whites of the eyes become yellow, the urine becomes dark and the stool becomes light in color). The liver or gallbladder may enlarge, and pain may be experienced under the lower right ribs or the right upper side of abdomen.
Uterine cancer may be indicated by vaginal bleeding from a woman who hasn’t had a period for a long time, or periods may become longer and irregular. There may or may not be pain.
Prostate cancer grows very slowly, so signs and symptoms occur gradually. There may be difficulty in urinating, frequent urination, or some trouble in starting or stopping urinatation. Later on there may be blood in the urine, pus or obstructions to urination. If the cancer spreads to the bones of the pelvis and lower back, there may be severe pains in those regions. In fact, many low-back problems in men over 65 are due to cancer of the prostate.
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IMMUNE ALERT
Let’s take a closer look at a few of the more common immune-system diseases. The signs and symptoms listed aren’t necessarily the only signals of the disease, and all of them may not occur in every instance. The point is to give you an idea of what the signs of impending immune difficulty may be.
AIDS: life-threatening, infectious disease spread by sexual contact, and other exchanges of body fluids, such as blood transfusions and intravenous-needle use. Caused by the HTLV-III virus. AIDS selectively causes immune suppression by destruction of T4 cells. Presently, it is not known what the incubation time for AIDS’s: It may be five years or more. We’ve only been tracking AIDS for five years, so we can’t say with absolute confidence that it is or is not easily spread. Presently, AIDS is considered fatal.
Signs and Symptoms: fever; cough; shortness of breath; sweats; enlarged lymph nodes in the neck, groin and other parts of the body; weight loss; often diarrhea; skin rashes; body wasting; muscle loss; may progress on to pneumonia, usually caused by opportunistic infections. Opportunistic infections are often caused by antigens that would ordinarily present little or no problem to our immune system. But with the immune system crippled by AIDS, these organisms cause a great deal of damage. Fifty percent of AIDS victims will have the opportunistic infection Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia; about 25 percent or so will have Kaposi’s sarcoma (first sign of Kaposi’s may be pigmented spots on the skin). A small number will have both penumocystis carinii and Kaposi’s. When you have AIDS, a simple infection such as herpes simplex or thrush mouth (Candida albicans) can be life-threatening.
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YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM: AN OLD IDEA

YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM: WHEN CELLS REBEL
Sometimes the delicate systems of checks and balances in our body fail, and our fighting cells do turn against us. When this happens, we call the problem an autoimmune disease. One of these diseases, called systemic lupus erythematosis, is an often-fatal illness that afflicts mostly young women. There’s also idiopathic ulcerative colitis, which may cause, among other problems, bloody diarrhea. Polyarteritis, a severe disease of the arteries I used to see a lot of, is an autoimmune disease, as is scleroderma, which produces a thickening of the skin, esophagus, lungs, intestinahtract and other body tissues. One of the most horrifying moments I ever experienced as a young doctor was when I touched a patient’s arm and his skin came off in my hand. He was suffering from an auto-immune disease called derma-tomyositis.
Crushing an Autoimmune Rebellion. . .
This is not easy task. We can, however, often read the signs of a potential problem in the blood. Although the helper cells and suppressor cells look alike, we can measure the amounts of each in a blood sample. I routinely examine these cells in those patients I suspect of having an immune-system malfunction.
. Because the T8 (suppressor) cells are designed to keep an eye on the rabble-rousing T4 (helper) cells, the ratio between the two is an important indicator of one’s immune-system health.
As I point out in Chapter Eleven, the T4/T8 ratio should range from about 1.6 to 1.8 (1.6 to 1.8 helper cells for every one suppressor cell). A T4/T8 ratio less than one is a strong indication of a severe immune abnormality: not enough helper cells to spur the fighting cells into action.
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UNDERSTANDING IMMUNE-SYSTEM TESTS: WHITE BLOOD CELL COUNTT
The immune-system laboratory tests I listed in Chapter Seven, Nutri-Prevention, give your your doctor an idea of how your immune system is functioning. Here’s an explanation of what the tests are, what they measure and what the results may mean. Let me caution you once again not to make a diagnosis on the basis of laboratory tests. These tests must be interpreted within the context of your doctor’s other findings.
As you read through the tests, you’ll be seeing some of these abbreviations:
gm = gram meg = microgram
mg = milligrams mm = millimeters
dl = deciliter pg = picogram
IU = International Unit ng = nanogram cc = cubic centimeter
White Blood Cell Count
The white blood cell count (WBC) is always included as part of the laboratory work done in a doctor’s office, lab or hospital. White blood cells are part of your immune system; they include the T-cells and B-cells that seek out specific antigens, the cell
“eaters” and other immune soldiers. A low WBC is often an indication of an unhealthy immune system. After all, you want to have enough immune soldiers to take on disease. A high WBC may be a sign of infection or some other problem causing the body to produce extra white blood cells.
Results: In most labs the WBC ranges from 5,000 to 10,000 per dl for normal people.
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B COMPLEX : VITAMIN B6 (PYRIDOXINE)

The B-complex family of vitamins has been studied extensively. It has been shown that animals and humans who are low in B vitamins have much less resistance to infections. Many of my patients who have suffered from recurrent infections have had low blood levels of some of the B complex vitamins.
Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxine)
Vitamin B6 has the most immune-system bolstering functions of all the B vitamins. Years ago we found that tuberculosis patients treated with the drug INH (isoniazid) developed severe immune-system problems. It turned out that the INH was altering B6 levels in the patients, which, in turn, upset their immune systems.
B6 (as well as B2 and B3, to a lesser extent) is important for the synthesis of nucleic acids and protein. The immune system, as well as the rest of the body, is absolutely dependent on adequate supplies of nucleic acids and protein. Without them, your immune defenses would quickly falter.
A deficiency of B6 leads to shrinking of the thymus gland. It’s in the thymus gland, as I pointed out, that the sturdy germ-fighting T-cells receive their programming, so a healthy thymus is a vital part of your defense system. A lack of B6 can harm your immune system in others ways, too, such as prompting a decrease in the total number of T-cells in the blood and upsetting the ratio of T-cells to B-cells.
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MORE COMMON IMMUNE-SYSTEM DISEASES: MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS AND MONONUCLEOSIS
MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS: a progressive disease of the central nervous system, characterized by loss of the covering of nervous tissue (de’myelination) of the brain and spinal cord. MS may lead to a weakened condition, which, in turn, leads to death.
Signs and Symptoms: weakness; fatigue; dizziness; weakness of hands or legs; transitory weakness or stiffness of a limb or extremity. Difficulty in walking may occur. May be pain in an extremity, also numbness and tingling. May be pain in one eye, blurring or dimness of vision. Problems with bladder control may occur. Victim may be easily upset emotionally. May be a tendency toward slow, hesitant speech. Disease is characterized by periods of advancing symptoms, then remission.
MONONUCLEOSIS: formerly called the kissing disease. Caused by the EB virus.
Signs and Symptoms: may last a week to a month, or may linger for several months. Symptoms include fatigue; weakness; headaches; irritability; chills, then a fever, which may be high. Sore throat often predominates at this point. Glands enlarge, especially glands in the neck. Liver tests are generally abnormal, and liver may be enlarged in some people. Spleen (under the left front ribs) is enlarged in about half those with mononucleosis. Often there is a red rash that passes quickly, and there may be little red spots inside the mouth on the hard and soft palate. Rarely, there may be a cough or chest pain. The disease can involve the brain, and not commonly lead to encephalitis and other brain inflammations.
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YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM: INTERFERON
Lymphocytes (T- and B-cells) also make substances called lympho-kines. Interferon is one of the lymphokines. When a cell is attacked by a virus, for example, the cell releases interferon. Interferon interacts with other, uninfected cells, stimulating them to make an antiviral protein that protects the second cell from the virus. Interferon can travel through the blood, casting its protective net over different parts of the body. Interferon prompted by one type of virus can protect cells against other viruses, as well as the original one. What’s more, interferons also help regulate other immune cells, for example, by increasing the production of fighting T-cells.
One type of interferon has been tested and used on a number of patients with CMV cytomegalic virus infections and hepatitis, and with AIDS patients who have Kaposi’s sarcoma.
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MORE ABOUT VITAMINS AND YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM: COPPER
There is only a small amount of copper in the body, but it finds its way into many of the body’s chemical interactions. Copper is part of the SOD (superoxide dismutase) molecule which scavenges the dangerous free radicals. As part of SOD, copper helps protect against cancer.
You also need copper to properly utilize the iron in your body. If you don’t have enough copper, and cannot make use of the iron you take in, you may find yourself suffering from an iron-deficiency anemia. Anemia, in turn, harms the immune system and other parts of the body. Lack of copper also prompts a weakness of the T-cells and the complement system. The complement system, which I discussed earlier, works with the cell “eaters,” T-cells and other parts of your immune system to destroy bacteria, viruses and other dangerous particles.
Copper and zinc have a “seesaw” effect on each other: too much of one lowers the levels of the other. So don’t overdose on either; keep them in balance.
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