This is an english version of the lecture “Den Tapte Toleransen” adapted for the scientific community, but no less theatrical and interactive. Maybe this is the the event that inspires your best hypothesis ever!
The immune system is on a mission to protect and keep us safe from dangers outside, such as bacteria. But what happens when immune cells consider you the enemy? In this story, a prolonged brain itch causes an army of immune cells to walk straight through the Blood-Brain Barrier. Under normal circumstances the cell T-Reggae would have made everyone chill with his smooth Reggae music, but because modern humans have recently ended a long-term agreement with the microbiome, the bacteria in our gut, there is no trace of tolerance left in the immune system. Therefore, immune cells go havoc. Who exactly is the enemy in allergy and autoimmunity? In this lecture, audience experience how easy it is for an immune cell to be manipulated into conflict. And perhaps gain some empathy for their own immune cells. It takes effort to maintain tolerance against everything that is new and different, independent of whether you are a human or a cell.
Our immune system is on the edge: easily offended and prone to aggression. Why? Is it our fault? I’d say it’s not. I would rather blame forces in society that are willing to sacrifice our health to make money, by pushing food on us that is not food, polluting the water we drink, the air we breathe, pushing values on us that stress us out (get rich, have status) and social media that pesters us. The modern, convenient, comfortable, protected life with electric scooters, Netflix and AI-generated best friends makes it impossible for us to live the way evolution made us for. Our lifestyle is draining life out of us.
- Cost: Free for organisations.
- Audience: youth and adults, we adapt accordingly.
- Venue: We have props and scenography, can perform in a seminarroom or auditorium
- Duration of event: 45 minutes
- Contact: henriette.ertsas@uib.no
- Funding: Neuro-SysMed, funded by the Jakob and Inger Valsøs Foundation
Ultra-processed food Could the microbiome massacre be caused by industrially produced carbohydrate chains/fibers that did not previously exist? They are used to replace carbohydrates in ultra-processed food. For practical purposes (to prevent a sauce from separating, give volume to ice cream, creamy consistency to yogurt), they are cheaper than the original carbohydrate fibres, or they are indigestible and go straight through (diet food). The long lasting sympbiotic partnership between bodies and bacteria has not seen these food items before, it leads to a distortion of the microbiome composition. Even if our own cells are not affected by these substances, it is serious enough that bacteria is affected. We are designed to live in symbiosis with our microbiome, but Western, modern society has decided to end the partnership and thus we are punished. Those who sell us antibiotics, herbicides and ultra-processed food, do they have a plan for us? Who will perform the tasks that bacteria have performed throughout human history? Can these tasks be replaced with pills? Do we really have enough knowledge to replace what’s given to us by a living organism?
Tolerance An immune response is initiated when an immune cell encounters that particular protein it can bind, in combination with a warning that this protein causes disease. Then a whole army of immune cells is produced ready to attack the protein. However, the immune cell is simply removed if the immune cell recognises protein without alarms being triggered simultaneously. Alternatively, it can be transformed into an immune cell that missions for peace. I call it T-Reggae. A T-lymphocyte that makes all the cells in the neighbourhood just chill out. This is how the immune system becomes tolerant to harmless proteins. Then you understand the importance of the immune system being exposed to as many different harmless proteins – read bacteria – as possible. They don’t have to do much more than simply hang around in the body. They are useful just by being present.
Foto: Marion Lebouvier