2. More on the Immune Response Flashcards
What is a cellular response?
The T-cells and other immune system cells that they interact with eg phagocytes, form the cellular response.
What is a humoral response?
B-cells, clonal selection and the production of monoclonal antibodies form the humoral response.
What is the tertiary structure of a protein?
Its the folding of the amino acid chain into the protein’s 3D shape.
What is the primary immune response?
Antigen enters the body for the first time it activates the immune system.
Its slow because there aren’t many B-cells that can make the antibody needed to bind to it.
Eventually body will produce enough of the right antibody to overcome infection.
Meanwhile patient shows symptoms of disease.
In the primary response what happens after being exposed to the antigen?
Both T- and B-cells produce memory cells.
What do the memory cells do in the primary response?
They remain in the body for a long time.
Memory T-cells remember the specific antigen and will recognise it the 2nd time.
Memory B-cells record the specific antibodies needed to bind the antigen.
Person is now immune.
What is the secondary immune response?
If the same pathogen enters the body again, the immune system will produce a quicker, stronger immune response.
Clonal selection happens faster.
Memory B-cells activate and divide into plasma cells that produce right antibody to the antigen.
What do the memory T-cells do in the secondary immune response?
Activate and divide into correct type of T-cells to kill the cell carrying the antigen.
This response often gets rid of the pathogen before you begin to show any symptoms.
What does being immune mean?
You may be infected by the pathogen again it just means if it gets into your body a second time your immune system quickly kills it before you get ill.
The secondary response only happens if…
Its the same pathogen.
If its a different pathogen you just get another primary response.
