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There are usually only a few ways in and out of your house (doors, windows), and the same holds true for your body. Invaders like viruses and bacteria can break through the typical entranceways, like the mouth, nose, genitals, and, of course, skin. And just as burglars can snoop anywhere in the house, viruses and bacteria can go anywhere they want. Your security system, however, has only a couple locations in your house—the control panel on the wall, for instance, which provides the main communication with the entire system. In your body, your immune response system is housed in a few key areas.

THYMUS It may sound like the name of a mythological Greek god, but the thymus plays a crucial role in your immune system because this is where your T cells mature. T cells are those helper cells that come in and add reinforcements to the initial emergency call. Some convince other cells to enter the fray and spread the news of battle. Some directly destroy the intruders and are aptly named natural killer cells. When you were a child, your thymus, which is located in front of your heart, was actually the size of your heart. (In fact, it was so big that when doctors do heart surgery on children, they have to fight through the thymus just to find the heart.) In adults, the thymus is much smaller—it actually shrinks dramatically as you age, until it is barely noticeable in eighty-year-olds. Presumably, this shrinkage is because you need a stronger immune response as a child, because you haven’t yet been exposed to many of the viruses and bacteria that can make you sick. As you get older, you have more exposure and thus more resistance. There is some speculation that smaller thymus size can also mean that you’re more prone to immune-related disorders that feature bacteria and viruses that your body doesn’t recognize.

BONE MARROW It would be unwise to house all of our protector cells in one area, so the bone marrow—the inner portion of the bone throughout the body—produces the young generations of immune cells that go to battle. In particular, the B cells respond to infections by creating antibodies—the small molecules that ram themselves into the side of bacteria and virus-infected cells. Once their protective shields are broken, these cells burst like swollen balloons. Small protein bullets called immunoglobulins work under the direction of white blood cells to hook up to infected cells and kill them.

SPLEEN Chances are that the only time you’ve ever heard a spleen mentioned is when George Clooney said someone needed one removed on ER. But the spleen, a fundamentally important immune organ, is the coffee shop of your body—it’s where all the T cells get together to talk to each other. In a sense, it’s a hub of immunity, where blood flows and information can be exchanged about infections that need to be fought. You most often hear of spleens needing to be removed because they may have been injured in a car accident, but taking one out reduces the ability of T cells to communicate, which makes you more prone to some types of infection.

LYMPHATIC SYSTEM From your first sore throat, you were well aware of your lymph system—when your mom or doctor would feel under your jaw. That’s because they were looking for swollen lymph nodes. Your lymph system is where all the immune activity takes place. It’s like an old paddy wagon—it hauls off all the waste material (the bad guys) from the infection and drains it from your system. Now, the lymph system has hubs, or precincts, throughout your body—under your jaw, in your armpits, in your groin, and in many other places. So if you infect a fingernail, for instance (stop biting them, would ya?), the closest hub—say, in the elbow—swells with white blood cells. One by one, they figure out where the infection is and go out to fight it. Then the leftover remnants of the infection flow into the lymph drainage system and are broken down, and the useful parts are recycled.

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