Library · Disease
Immunodeficiency
Make it clearer
Immunodeficiency means that the immune system, the body's defense, is missing a piece, is not working properly, or never finished developing. The consequence is not just getting more infections: there is also more autoimmunity, which is the defense attacking the body itself, and more malignancies, that is, cancers.
Immunodeficiencies fall into two groups depending on where they come from. The primary ones, now called inborn errors of immunity, come from pathogenic genetic variants, meaning changes in the genes that affect how the defense develops or how it works. The person was born with that gap.
Secondary ones are the other way around: here the defense developed normally and something later took it apart. That something can be an infection, an immunosuppressant drug of the kind used to hold the defense back on purpose, a malignancy, or malnutrition. And a secondary immunodeficiency can be temporary or it can stay for life.
In brief
Immunodeficiency is the absence, dysfunction or abnormal development of components of the immune system, with greater susceptibility to infections, autoimmunity and malignancies.
It is classified as primary or secondary: primary immunodeficiency, or inborn error of immunity, comes from pathogenic genetic variants affecting immune development or function.
Secondary immunodeficiency arises from acquired conditions in a previously normal system, such as infections, immunosuppressants, malignancies or malnutrition, and may be temporary or permanent.
Here the defense was built complete and something came later to take it apart.
Sources (1)
- National Center for Biotechnology Information, StatPearls PublishingImmunodeficiency Disorders (Primary and Secondary), StatPearlsPublished
This page explains the topic in general terms; it does not tell anyone what treatment to follow.
Updated