Immune Health Basics' Wellmune® Mode of Action
Posted by Kerry Health and Nutrition Institute on Jul 3rd 2015
The innate immune system is the primary line of
defense against common health challenges.
Wellmune improves the functioning of the innate
immune system by making key white blood cells
(specifically called leukocytes) better able to find
and kill potential pathogens. The mechanism
of action of Wellmune is complex, but can be
delineated into a few simple steps.
1. The human gastrointestinal tract contains immune tissue (Peyer’s patches) with specific cells that actively collect and transport certain “food” materials into the immune system; Wellmune is one of the materials that is actively collected by these gut immune cells.
2. Processing of Wellmune by specific immune cells (macrophages) produces a biologically active fragment of Wellmune. The Wellmune fragment binds to and enhances key white blood cells called neutrophils.
3. The active fragment of Wellmune has specific effects on neutrophils:
- When a Wellmune fragment binds to neutrophils, it increases the ability of these cells to navigate towards (chemotaxis) non-self cells (non-self cells are any cells that don’t belong in the body, including dead or defective human cells, bacteria, fungi, etc.)
- The non-self cells are marked and labeled by soluble blood proteins called a complement system, in a process called complement activation
- When Wellmune carrying neutrophils encounter complement-activated cells, they trigger a specific biological mechanism that kills the non-self cell