Overview of Human Immune System and White Blood Cells
Our immune system is responsible for detecting and eliminating pathogens and tumor cells. It makes up our natural disease prevention system, of which white blood cells are a critical component.
White blood cell can be broken down into:
- Lymphocytes (makes up 30% of total white blood cells count, popularly expressed as WBC),
- neutrophils (constitute 60% of WBC, also known as polymorph nuclear leukocytes in the medical field, or simply PMNs, or “polys”), and,
- other blood cell types, which collectively contribute to the balance 10% of WBC. These are bands (2%), basophils (1%), eosinophils (2%) and monocytes (5%).