The immune system, which is made up of special cells, proteins, tissues, and organs, defends people against germs and microorganisms every day. In most cases, the immune system does a great job of keeping people healthy and preventing infections. But sometimes problems with the immune system can lead to illness and infection.

The immune system is the body's defense against infectious organisms and other invaders. Through a series of steps called the immune response, the immune system attacks organisms and substances that invade body systems and cause disease. The immune system is made up of a network of cells, tissues, and organs that work together to protect the body. One of the important cells involved are white blood cells, also called leukocytes, which come in two basic types that combine to seek out and destroy disease-causing organisms or substances. Leukocytes are produced or stored in many locations in the body, including the thymus, spleen, and bone marrow. For this reason, they're called the lymphoid organs. There are also clumps of lymphoid tissue throughout the body, primarily as lymph nodes, that house the leukocytes. The leukocytes circulate through the body between the organs and nodes via lymphatic vessels and blood vessels. In this way, the immune system works in a coordinated manner to monitor the body for germs or substances that might cause problems.

When antigens (foreign substances that invade the body) are detected, several types of cells work together to recognize them and respond. These cells trigger the B lymphocytes to produce antibodies, which are specialized proteins that lock onto specific antigens.

When antigens (foreign substances that invade the body) are detected, several types of cells work together to recognize them and respond. These cells trigger the B lymphocytes to produce antibodies, which are specialized proteins that lock onto specific antigens.

An antibody also known as an immunoglobulin (Ig), is a large, Y-shaped protein produced mainly by plasma cells (white blood cells). They act as a critical part of the immune response by specifically recognizing and binding to particular antigens, such as bacteria or viruses, and aiding in their destruction.

There are five immunoglobulin classes (isotypes) of antibody molecules found in serum: IgG, IgM, IgA, IgE and IgD.Although antibodies can recognize an antigen and lock onto it, they are not capable of destroying it without help. That's the job of the T cells, which are part of the system that destroys antigens that have been tagged by antibodies or cells that have been infected or somehow changed. (Some T cells are actually called "killer cells.") T cells also are involved in helping signal other cells (like phagocytes) to do their jobs.

Classification of Immunity:Immunity can be classified into 2 types

1. Innate Immunity
2. Acquired Immunity

Everyone is born with innate (or natural) immunity, a type of general protection. Many of the germs that affect other species don't harm us. For example, the viruses that cause leukemia in cats or distemper in dogs don't affect humans. Innate immunity also includes the external barriers of the body, like the skin and mucous membranes (like those that line the nose, throat, and gastrointestinal tract), which are the first line of defense in preventing diseases from entering the body. If this outer defensive wall is broken (as through a cut), the skin attempts to heal the break quickly and special immune cells on the skin attack invading germs.

It is the immunity that what is acquired by the individual during the lifetime. It involves synthesis of Antibodies & production of immunologically active cells. Acquired Immunity develops because of Humoral Immunity & Cell mediated Immunity.

The Humoral Immunity is antibody mediated & involves the production of antibody by the B cells present in the Lymphocytes in blood. Cell-mediated immunity is an immune response that does not involve antibodies, but rather involves the activation of phagocytes, antigen-specific cytotoxic T-lymphocytes in response to an antigen.

It is when an otherwise healthy Immune system has an undesirable exaggerated response to a foreign substance or a perceived foreign substance that damages the body's own cells. There are four types;

1. Type I
2. Type II
3. Type III
4. Type IV

Type I Hypersensitivity – Antigens such as dust, pollen etc trigger an immune response through the mast cells, a type of white blood cell. Specifically, it is a type of granulocyte derived from the myeloid stem cell & contains many granules rich in histamine and heparin and are known for their role in allergy and anaphylaxis, They are scattered throughout the connective tissues of the body, especially beneath the surface of the skin, near blood vessels and lymphatic vessels, within nerves, throughout the respiratory system, and in the digestive and urinary tracts. IgE molecules are bound to mast cells, which are found in loose connective tissue. When enough antigen has bound with the IgE antibodies, the mast cells release granules of histamine and heparin. These potent chemicals dilate blood vessels and constrict bronchial air passages. Histamine is responsible for the visible symptoms of an allergic attack, such as running nose, wheezing, and tissue swelling and is responsible for the common Allergic Rhinitis. A severe, often fatal, type I allergic reaction is known as anaphylaxis also called anaphylactic shock a severe, immediate, potentially fatal systemic allergic reaction due to huge release of histamine.

*B Cell activity: Normally our immune system doesn't react to food protein. But when there is increased intestinal permeability (leaky gut) and when this protein comes in higher amount then our immune system considers it as antigen and activate B cell. When a B cell encounters an antigen, it engulfs it. There is rapid proliferation of B cells. The dividing B cell makes thousands of identical clones of B cell or daughter cells.These daughter cells either become plasma cells or memory cells.The memory B cells remain inactive here; later when these memory B cells encounter the same antigen due to re-introduction of the trigger foods, they are activated & produce antibodies.

Immune Complexes: The plasma cells produce a large number of antibodies which are released free in the circulatory system.When these antibodies will encounter antigens, they will bind with them. They are termed as "ImmuneComplexes" The binding with the antigen & antibody triggers a chemical interaction between host and foreign cells to ultimately destroy them. Most often the Immune complexes are destroyed in circulation. & the person does not experience any specific symptoms. However, ifthe food forming these immune complexes is eaten regularly, it results in huge amounts of these Circulating Immune Complexes (CIC) not getting cleared out of the system & getting deposited in the tissues, vessels, joints. A chronic inflammatory reaction is induced in the tissue concerned which also leads to tissue damage. Symptoms do not appear immediately (delayed reaction). As normally no association is made with an adverse reaction & the food is not avoided, symptoms aggravate.

ImuPro is a test based on the principle of ELISA (Enzyme linked Immunosorbent Assay) wherein the IgG antibodies if present in the sample are captured by the antigens present on the testing plate.The results are reported in three groups; A] Not elevated – No IgG detected, or level is below cut-off, food is allowed for consumption, respecting the rotation principle B] Elevated –Elevated levels of IgG detected, foods have to be avoided for 5 – 8 weeks C] Highly elevated – Elevated levels of IgG detected, foods have to be avoided strictly for 5-8 weeks

1. Elimination Phase – In this phase all foods in Not Elevated group of foods from the results are allowed to be consumed in a 4-day rotation cycle. This avoids unintended nutritional mistakes (ignorance of prohibited foods contains in the allowed food) and to avoid the appearance of IgG to newly introduced food. The elimination phase lasts for 5- 8 weeks. This period is taking into consideration that the half life of IgG is 23 days thereby allowing the already elevated IgG levels in the blood to fall down to normal levels (Half-life is how long it takes for half of the concentration to be eliminated from the bloodstream)

2. Provocation Phase–After complete avoidance of all IgG foods, the patient now starts consuming these foods one by one; starting from the Elevated foods moving to Highly elevated foods, since lower concentrations of IgG tend to disappear faster then higher concentrations & the body tends to adapt itself easily. In this phase the patient observes for recurrence of symptoms or increase in body weight.

3. Stabilization Phase – In this phase, the patient avoids the trigger foods which were identified in the Provocation phase for at least a year. This period has been designed since memory cells which are a type of B cells retain this reaction for a period of 1 year (ref * under B cellActivity). If no stimulation of these memory cells takes place in this time, they will die out & the trigger response to this particular food is lost.