The Factors that Most Affect our Immune System

The two studies confirm that immune variation among individuals is largely due to differences in sex and age. “However, smoking and asymptomatic cytomegalovirus infection, which affects 35% of the population, also have a major impact on our blood cell composition. This may explain why smokers and people infected by this virus can be more prone to infection.”

"The researchers’ next task was to determine whether our genetics contribute to immune response variation among individuals. Surprisingly, “we identified hundreds of genetic variations which change the expression of molecules that play a key role in immune responses”, reports Lluis Quintana-Murci “some of which are associated with a higher risk of developing diseases such as pollen allergy, lupus erythematosus, and type 1 diabetes.” These results shed new light on the potential causes of these illnesses, which remain unclear."
http://neurosciencenews.com/immune-system-activation-8578/

Researchers investigate the different factors that affect our immune system and why some of us are more prone to diseases than others.