Could the Borg assimilate the children from 'unnatural selection'?

[at Quark's]

Yesterday, I was rewatching VOY: Scorpion. The EMH says about species 8472:

lt's the most densely coded life-form l've ever seen. Even l would need years to decipher it. They have an extraordinary immune response. Anything that penetrates the cell membrane... chemical... biological... technological... it's all instantly destroyed. That's why the Borg can't assimilate them. Resistance in this case is far from futile.

Then I started wondering. What would happen if the Borg met the genetically engineered children with enhanced immune responses from TNG's season 2 episode unnatural selection?

 

[Taelon]

The immune systems of the children from that episode only seemed to seek out and neutralize biological agents.

For their immunity to have an effect on nanoprobes, I'd have expected the children's immune systems to also interfere with the ships systems as well, implying that they also work on technological agents. This doesn't seem to be the case.

Although with events that happened in Voyager, such as Admiral Janeway's assimilation in Endgame it's possible that a modification to the immune system could be theoretically possible to render any assimilated organism highly destructive to the Borg's systems.

 

[at Quark's]

For their immunity to have an effect on nanoprobes, I'd have expected the children's immune systems to also interfere with the ships systems as well, implying that they also work on technological agents. This doesn't seem to be the case.

Their immune system didn't interfere with other humans until it detected a threat (the virus carried by one of the crewmembers of the Lantree. It might be their immune systems simply do not classify the technological systems aboard the ENT-D or the space station as a threat.

Besides, when comparing a virus and a self-replicating nanoprobe that infects you, rewrites your DNA, and attempts to take over your cells, would it matter that one is 'biological' whereas the other is not ?

 

[Vandervecken]

For their immunity to have an effect on nanoprobes, I'd have expected the children's immune systems to also interfere with the ships systems as well, implying that they also work on technological agents. This doesn't seem to be the case.

Besides, when comparing a virus and a self-replicating nanoprobe that infects you, rewrites your DNA, and attempts to take over your cells, would it matter that one is 'biological' whereas the other is not ?

It should matter to any real, terrestrial immune system, human or anything. All the cell-surface proteins, cytokines, and other immune system agents are organic and generally protein based, interact in very specific ways with various antigens, and shouldn't be capable of interacting with the likely inorganic, polymerized surface of a nanoprobe.

But, against my expectation, there does seem to be some response, although we don't have access to the full article (hey, it's $58):


http://www.eurekaselect.com/70866/article

 

[publiusr]

I think what you would have is what took place with Dr. Phlox. His Denobulan DNA wasn't as impervious as Species 8472, so he had a little time to deal with assimilation.

My question is this--how do the kids from unnatural selection fare against Khan type augments? I think they are nicer. Makes me wonder about Aridas Sophia's concept of New Humans.