Method to enhance innate immunity defense mechanisms by treatment with plant-derived alkaloids

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The most important function of the immune system is to provide its host with protection against disease.
To carry out these tasks, a large and diverse array of effector mechanisms have evolved, the majority of which exhibit antigen specificity.
Each individual effector mechanism possesses a degree of uniqueness with respect to its ability to influence the rate of progression, to detoxify, or to promote the elimination of microbial pathogens.
Such a diversity in available mechanisms is absolutely essential since no single effector response can effectively deal with all forms of pathogenic insults.
The different mechanisms employed to protect a host against microbes include physical barriers, phagocytic cells in the blood and tissues, natural killer cells and various blood-borne molecules.
These mechanisms can repel, destroy or hold in check many classes of microbes.
Some of these defense mechanisms (a) are present prior to exposure to infectious microbes or foreign macromolecules, (b) do not discriminate among most foreign substances, and (c) frequently cannot be sufficiently enhanced by such exposure.
These defense mechanisms are the components of the innate immunity.
Other defense mechanisms are induced or stimulated by exposure to foreign substances, are specific for distinct macromolecules and increase in magnitude and defensive capabilities with each successive exposure to a particular macromolecule.
These mechanism constitute adaptive (acquired) immunity.
The innate defense mechanisms of the immune system get involved early postinfection, and their function is to control the extent of infection in an agent nonspecific manner.
Individuals can vary greatly in the efficiency of their innate immune defenses.
These differences can spell the difference between an infection which resolves prior to development of overt disease, and an infection which progresses to full-blown disease prior to the mobilization of the acquired immune defense mechanisms.
In addition, the frequency and spectrum of multiresistant species of pathogenic bacteria has dramatically increased over the past decade