RT Book, Section A1 Sutton, S. Scott A2 Sutton, S. Scott SR Print(0) ID 1158313779 T1 Immune System T2 McGraw-Hill's NAPLEX® Review Guide, 3e YR 2019 FD 2019 PB McGraw-Hill Education PP New York, NY SN 9781260135923 LK accesspharmacy.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=1158313779 RD 2022/05/22 AB The immune system protects the body from invading pathogens and has an amazing ability to evolve and adapt based upon environmental exposure. The immune system is designed to attack and destroy foreign antigens/pathogens; however, the immune system must be able to distinguish self from nonself. Failure to differentiate self from nonself may lead to autoimmune diseases (see Table 11-1 for a list of autoimmune diseases). The immune system includes two functional divisions: (1) innate or nonspecific and (2) adaptive or specific. The body uses the innate and adaptive immune responses to kill foreign pathogens. The greatest differences between the responses are in specificity and memory. The adaptive immune response can evolve with each subsequent infection, whereas the innate immune response stays the same with each infection. Awareness of immune systems components and consequences of disrupting homeostasis must be understood in order to appropriately dose, administer, and monitor effects of medications given to manipulate immune responses.