Talk:Immune system

Physical excercise
The following is from my Talk Page: I am planning to (at least partially) tackle the exercise article, which is in a rather abyssmal state. I noticed the amount of coverage medical sources have regarding the immune system and exercise, and upon glossing over immune system, there weren't any mentions of exercise, physical activity etc., which is very surprising. Wouldn't it be wise to have a section dedicated to the effects of exercise, perhaps below the "Sleep and rest" section? I've found some great systematic reviews on the topic, and a few umbrella reviews mentioning it. I'd be happy to help out with creating such a section. Any thoughts? Cheers - Wretchskull (talk) 09:57, 9 December 2022 (UTC)
 * Hi, yes you are right. It is a serious omission. May I suggest we collaborate on a section? Graham Beards (talk) 10:06, 9 December 2022 (UTC)
 * Excellent! I'm very busy today but I have plenty of time this weekend. I'll give you a notice when I'm ready! Search wherever you want and you'll stumble upon some great findings on this topic; Cochrane and PubMed seems like a good start, but I'm sure the refs you already used in immune system are also useful. Wretchskull (talk) 10:22, 9 December 2022 (UTC)
 * I'm looking forward to a fruitful collaboration. Graham Beards (talk) 10:29, 9 December 2022 (UTC)
 * Hello again! I've picked a few sources here, mostly from a journal specialized in this topic (Exercize Immunology Review). I was wondering what the structure of such a section should be. Do you think we should have a paragraph explaining the technical microscopic changes and a paragraph below for its studied effects on infections, inflammation, cancer, etc.? Wretchskull (talk) 09:18, 11 December 2022 (UTC)
 * Hi, it's best if we only use reviews as these are compliant with WP:MEDRS. From a quick glance, I think I spotted some primary studies. Perhaps we should move our conversation to the article's Talk Page? That way others can pitch in. With regard to the section's structure, I suggest the heading "Effect of physical excercise" ( I think the article uses UK English, but I will have to check), followed by a section on the effects on innate immunity, one on adaptive immunity and, as you said, effects on disease course (but we must avoid primary studies). Thoughts? Best regards, Graham Beards (talk) 11:32, 11 December 2022 (UTC)
 * Of course. I'll start working on its medical effects, but I would appreciate if you could help with innate/adaptive immunity as my knowledge in that topic is nowhere near as vast as an expert like yours. If I have any questions I'll use the article talk page from now on. By the way, regarding the sources, I was surprised when you said some were primary. I assume it's because it doesn't have the blue highlight with the word "review" on it (like this one)? The title of such sources contain the word "review", otherwise I wouldn't use them. All MEDRS sources I use are filtered by review, systematic review, or meta analysis. I might be missing something, though, and I'd be happy if you could correct me. Cheers - Wretchskull (talk) 13:47, 11 December 2022 (UTC)
 * I hadn't looked at them closely. Graham Beards (talk) 14:57, 11 December 2022 (UTC)

I have started the new section.Graham Beards (talk) 13:43, 12 December 2022 (UTC)

Peripheral immune system
Can we add a mention in this article of the peripheral immune system--or create an article for this? 76.190.213.189 (talk) 02:34, 29 January 2023 (UTC)

Total mass, number, and distribution of immune cells in the human bod
While the recently added Sender et al. citation was removed for lack of context, the quantitative estimates of the immune system in that paper warrant brief mention to provide readers intuitive insight. Specifically, the cited paper calculates the human immune system contains approximately 1.8 trillion cells, dwarfing the ~100 billion neurons in the brain nearly 15-fold. Additionally, at an estimated 1.2 kg, the immune system weighs 3-5 times more than an average adult heart (250-350 grams). As these facts illustrate the immune system's considerable magnitude relative to other organs, they impart useful perspective for general readers. Thus a pared down summary contextualizing these cell count and weight comparisons could suitably supplement the article, without diving into excessive detail tangential to the core content. LittleHow (talk) 14:10, 4 November 2023 (UTC)


 * It was an interesting paper but as it is a primary source it not WP:MEDRS compliant. We need to wait for this to be discussed in a review article in an established journal. Graham Beards (talk) 14:53, 4 November 2023 (UTC)

Claims made without evidence
There are about 20 claims made with out evidence in the first two paragraphs.

It would be useful to include specific experiments that have been run that led to these assumptions. 75.70.178.222 (talk) 22:05, 7 March 2024 (UTC)


 * See MOS:LEADCITE. As the top paragraphs are a summary of the article, citations are often redundant as the statements are repeated with citations in he article. Graham Beards (talk) 07:05, 8 March 2024 (UTC)

Who coined the term? When did it come into popular use?
"Immunity" and "immune" come from the latin "immunis" meaning "free from/exempt from taxes (in Roman times)".

The very outset of this article states "immunity is the state of being insusceptible or resistant to a noxious agent or process". "Immune" does not mean "resistant" it means "free from" or "exempt from". There is basically a downwards spiral on wikipedia describing "Immune" "immunity" "immunize" in increasingly weaker terms such as "fortify", "resistant", or "protect". Somewhere it should be explained how there came to be this disconnect in meaning between "immune system" or "immunity" in the medical sense meaning "protect" or "resistant to" rather than "free from" or "exempt from" which is the plain English meaning of "immune". 27.32.165.42 (talk) 18:31, 7 April 2024 (UTC)