Why are non-specific defence systems called that.

Question

In biology we have been learning non-specific defence system such as the nose which contains hairs and mucus which prevents pathogens from entering the body. I was wondering why they are called non-specific defence systems

Answer 1

Hi, Dan—the term is partly in contrast to the alternative, specific defense systems like antibodies.

 

Things like mucus can trap anything—any bacterium, any virus, any dust particle. It doesn’t matter what the species is, or what specific proteins it’s coated with. It’ll get trapped in the goo.

 

Antibodies, on the other hand, are like very, very specific gloves. They’ll only fit on the precise ‘hand’ (antigen) that they are built for. No matter how deadly a bacterium or toxin is, the VAST majority of your antibodies will ignore it completely. They only ‘understand’ one target, and are blind to everything else.