Adaptive Immunity Flashcards
What are antibodies secreted by?
Mature B cells
Where do mature B cells circulate?
In the blood
What do mature B cells undergo upon encounter with an antigen?
Differentiation into antibody secreting plasma cells
What is an antibody (ab)?
A protein that is able to interact with antigens and with cells of the immune system.
What is an antigen?
Substances, often biological macromolecules, which elicit immune responses and react with the products of such responses -the antibodies
What are antigens typically?
Proteins or glycoproteins from bacteria or viruses
What is the lock and key reaction?
Antigen recognition region has to be specific for the antigen for binding to take place
What are antibodies able to interact with cells of the immune system via?
Fc portion
What do all immune cells have that bind to the Fc portion of an antibody?
Fc receptors
What is necessary for an antibody to send a signal to an immune cell to trigger an immune response? (2)
- Antigen recognition portion of antibody bound to antigen
- Fc portion of antibody interacts with the Fc receptor of immune cell
What ways other than infection are foreign proteins and glycoproteins encountered by our body? (2)
- Foetal cells in pregnancy
- Tissue/organ transplantation
- Blood transfusion
What is an important diagnostic approach to detect infection and incompatibilities?
Determining the presence of antibodies in serum
What two things can determining the presence of antibodies in serum detect?
- Infection
- Incompatibilities
What is serodiagnosis?
A diagnosis based upon the reaction of blood serum
Give one of the most frequently used assays of serodiagnosis
Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA)
