IMMUNE CELLS

Get to know the cells
of your immune system!

An educational guide to your body's natural defenders — in a fun and relatable way.

Our immune system has many different types of cells. These cells work very hard and work with each other to protect us from infections. Each of them plays a special role and we wanted to share with you what these cells do in a fun and more relatable way.

Let us introduce the key players to you.

We have CD8 T cell – the sheriff, CD4 T cell – the barista, B cell – the cupid, NK cell – the bouncer, dendritic cell – the detective and lastly, macrophage – the puppy. Click on each cell to learn more about what they do!

Illustrations Credit: Dr Kiho Tanaka is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity.

Content Review Credit: Carles Araya is a peer navigator at Living Positive Victoria and a member of the Melbourne HIV Cure Consortium Community Advisory Board. Dr Hannah King and Dr Paula Cevaal are postdoctoral research fellows at the Peter Doherty Institute.

These are simplified summaries of what the cells do in our body. In fact, they do a lot more than what we have shown here, for example they also play crucial roles in controlling cancer. We hope through this graphical summary people feel more familiar with their own immune cells and this serves as a fun introduction to cell biology!

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