Hunter-Types III & IV Hypersensitivity Flashcards
Type III Hypersensitivity reactions are Ig___ mediated.
IgG
What is the nature of the antigen in Type III reactions?
soluble antigen
What is the effector mechanism in Type III rxns?
complement, phagocytes
What is an example of a Type III reaction?
serum sickness, arthrus reaction, systemic lupus erythematosus
What is an immune complex?
antigen-antibody complex
What are the 4 categories of immune complex disease?
Persistent infection
Injected Antigen
Inhaled Antigen
Autoimmunity
What is the antigen for a persistent infection immune complex disease? What are some examples of this?
Antigen: Microbial Antigens (Acute–Subacute)
Examples: Streptococcal Infections, Malaria, Viral hepatitis, and Many Others
What is the antigen for an injected antigen immune complex disease? What are some examples of this?
drugs & biologics (acute)
Arthus Reaction, Serum Sickness
What is the antigen for an inhaled antigen immune complex disease? What are some examples of this?
Antigen: Molds, Spores, Chemicals
(Acute)
Examples: Hypersensitivity Pneumonitis (Extrinsic Allergic Alveolitis)
What is the antigen for autoimmunity immune complex diseases? What are some examples of this?
Antigen: Self Antigens (Chronic Disease)
Examples: Systemic Lupus Erythematosis, Rheumatoid arthritis
If you have a high dose of IV antigen…what are some possible places of resulting disease? Where would the deposits be?
Vasculitis: blood vessel walls
Nephritis: renal glomeruli
Arthritis: joint spaces
If you have a subcutaneous dose of antigen…what are some possible resulting diseases? Where would the deposits be?
Arthrus reaction in the perivascular space
If you have an inhaled antigen…what are some possible resulting diseases? Where would the deposits be?
Farmer’s Lung
Alveolar/Capillary Interface
What type of hypersensitivity reaction is lupus?
TYPE III
Where do the immune complexes embed themselves when they haunt the kidney in the form of nephritis? Why is the kidney so sensitive to immune complexes?
they embed themselves in the basement membrane of the glomeruli
**perfect storm b/c the glomeruli have a small capillary bed, highly vascular, under high pressure
When do you get disease with the presence of immune complexes?
when the amount of immune complexes produced exceeds the body’s ability to get rid of them. maybe they are embedded somewhere or maybe there is a lot of them.
Describe in detail what causes vasculitis. What will this person show if the damage is only somewhat bad? What if it is really bad?
when the immune complexes in the b.v. squeeze b/w the endothelial cells & get stuck in the basement membrane. Get inflammation & blood vessel damage. If it is a little bad: petechiae & if it is really bad you get purpura.
Joint spaces are highly ______ making them vulnerable to immune complex disease, such as arthritis.
vascularized!
What is an arthrus reaction?
this is when you form a bunch of immune complexes right underneath the skin–a kind of vaccine reaction
What are 2 other names for Farmer’s Lung?
hypersensitivity pneumonitis
extrinsic alveolar disease
Describe the time course of the formation of immune complexes.
When you first see a bunch of an antigen you don’t have antibodies for it! So the antigen is in excess
Takes 4-6 days to produce antibodies.
Once they start getting produced you have a few immune complexes, but you are still in antigen excess. B/c they are so small, they don’t fix complement & they can’t be readily cleared. Therefore, they can get deposited in vasculature.
Once you get an equivalent level of antigen & antibody or once you get antibody excess–it can bind complement & be cleared.
When might a cancer patient be in antigen excess during one of their treatments?
Maybe they are treated with monoclonal antibodies. For a bit they may be in antigen excess & have a difficult time clearing their immune complexes.
Describe how immune complexes are normally cleared.
The immune complex is not in antigen excess. it activates the complement. This produces C3b & C4b molecules that attach to the immune complex. C3b & C4b bind CR1 on the RBC. The RBC takes it for a trip to the spleen or the liver. Splenic macrophages or Kupffer cells then bind the immune complex via Fc receptor & release the RBCs to go on their merry way.
When does this normal system of clearing immune complexes break down?
when you have a complement deficiency or an overwhelming infection or massive amounts of complexes or a persistent infection. The immune complexes can’t get out so they embed themselves in small vasculature.
Which areas of vasculature do immune complexes like to deposit?
glomeruli b/c it is a small capillary bed w/ high pressure
small vasculature of the skin or joints
can sometimes get immune complexes stuck in arteries if it is at a point of bifurcation where there is turbulent flow. This turbulence gives the immune complex time to embed itself b/w the endothelial cells onto the basement membrane.
What happens after immune complexes embed themselves in the basement membrane of vasculature?
Complement is activated releasing anaphylatoxins (C5a and C3a)
Neutrophils are recruited to site, bind to immune complexes by their Fc receptors, and become activated
Frustrated phagocytosis results in granule exocytosis and inflammatory mediators and enzymes cause tissue destruction
If you get a bunch of immune complexes embedded in your glomeruli…what will the patient likely experience?
hematuria & proteinuria
**not caused by the microorganism that invaded the pt, but by the attack of the immune complex.
A 14-year-old Hispanic male presents with a 3-day complaint of “cola-colored urine.” He has been your patient since birth and has experienced no major illnesses or injuries, is active in band and cross-country, and denies drug use or sexual activity. Two weeks ago he had 2 days of fever and a sore throat, but he improved spontaneously and has been well since. His review of systems is remarkable only for his slightly puffy eyes, which he attributes to late-night studying for final examinations. On physical examination he is afebrile, his blood pressure is 135/90 mm Hg, he is active and nontoxic in appearance, but he has some periorbital edema. The urine dipstick has a specific gravity of 1.035 and contains 2+ blood and 2+ protein. You centrifuge the urine, resuspend the sediment, and identify red blood cell casts under the microscope.
What does this patient have?
Post-Streptococcal Glomerulonephritis
Post-streptococcal glomerulo-nephritis is the most common post-infectious acute proliferative nephritis and has a good prognosis
What would you see in the glomerulus of a person with Post-streptococcal glomerulo-nephritis as opposed to a healthy kidney?
glomerular hypercellularity due to intracapillary leukocytes & proliferation of intrinsic glomerular cells
What would an immunofluorescent stain of the glomerulus show?
demonstrates discrete, coarsly granular (“lumpy-bumpy”) deposits of complement protein C3 and IgG