In this video, we have a football analogy for immune tolerance. First, we need to recall from our previous lesson video that immune tolerance is the ability of our immune system to distinguish between harmful and harmless antigens. In this football analogy, the immune system is represented as the QB, or the quarterback of the team. The harmful antigens are represented as the opponent team, and the harmless antigens are represented as the teammates. Without immune system tolerance, our immune system cannot distinguish between harmful and harmless antigens. That means that the immune system will not be able to perform its job very well.
If we take a look at our image down below at our football analogy, notice that without immune tolerance, our immune system will be unable to distinguish harmful from harmless substances. Our immune system, represented as the QB, will be unable to distinguish his teammates from the opposing team. All these players are on the field, however, the QB, representing our immune system, cannot distinguish between harmful and harmless substances. This inability means that the QB can’t figure out who's on his team, and as a result, he's not going to be able to do his job properly. Without immune tolerance, the immune system cannot do its job properly, and it could lead to autoimmune diseases.
On the other hand, with immune system tolerance, our immune system can distinguish properly between harmful and harmless substances. This means that our immune system will be able to perform its job properly. If we look at our image on the right-hand side, notice that it represents immune tolerance. Our immune system will be able to distinguish between harmful and harmless substances, which means that our QB here, our QB immune system, will be able to distinguish his teammates from the opposing team. Notice here that his teammates are all colorful, and because the QB can distinguish the teammates from the opposing team, the immune system will be able to perform its job properly. The QB is saying, "Oh, now that I have immune tolerance, I can do my job properly."
The football analogy highlights how immune tolerance allows our immune system to distinguish harmful from harmless substances and to perform its job properly, only building immune tolerance toward harmless substances and targeting and attacking harmful and dangerous antigens. This concludes our football analogy for immune tolerance, and we'll be able to get some practice applying these concepts and learn even more about immune tolerance as we move forward in our course. I'll see you all in our next video.