Immune System

Question 1

Three types of immunity

Answer 1

Humoral, innate, cell-mediated

Question 2

Innate immunity

Answer 2

The general, nonspecific protection the body provides against various invaders

Question 3

Principal components of innate immunity

Answer 3

• The skin
• Lysozyme found in tears, saliva, and blood
• The extreme acidity of the stomach
• Macrophages and neutrophils
• The complement system

Question 4

The complement system

Answer 4

A group of about 20 proteins that can nonspecifically bind to the surface of foreign cells, leading to their destruction

Question 5

Humoral immunity

Answer 5

Specific protection by antibodies or immunoglobulins

Question 6

Antibodies

Answer 6

Specifically recognize and bind to microorganisms leading to their destruction and removal from the body
Most of the antibody circulating in plasma is the IgG class

Question 7

Variable region

Answer 7

Responsible for the specificity of antibodies in recognizing foreign particles

Question 8

IgM

Answer 8

Involved in initial immune response; pentameric structure in blood, monomeric structure on B cell as antigen receptor

Question 9

IgG

Answer 9

Involved in ongoing immune response; the majority of antibody in the blood is IgG; can also cross the placental barrier

Question 10

IgD

Answer 10

Serves with IgM as antigen receptor on B cells

Question 11

IgA

Answer 11

Secreted in breast milk; helps protect newborns, dimeric structure

Question 12

IgE

Answer 12

Involved in allergic reactions

Question 13

Antigen

Answer 13

Molecule an antibody binds to
Ex: viral capsid proteins, bacterial surface proteins, toxins in the bloodstream
Large molecules which have many different recognition sites for different antobodies

Question 14

Epitope

Answer 14

The small site that an antibody recognizes within a large molecule

Question 15

Plasma cells

Answer 15

Actively produce and secrete antibody protein into the plasma

Question 16

Memory cells

Answer 16

Pre-activated, dormant B cells

Remain dormant, sometimes for years, waiting for the same antigen to reappear

Question 17

Primary immune response

Answer 17

Is too slow to prevent symptoms of the infection from occurring

Question 18

Secondary immune response

Answer 18

Much faster than the primary immune response and the symptoms never develop

Question 19

T helper cells (CD4 cells)

Answer 19

Activate B cells, T killer cells, and other cells of the immune system
The central controller of the whole immune response
Communicates with other cells by releasing special hormones called lymphokines and interleukins

Question 20

T cell receptor

Answer 20

The protein on the T-cell surface that can bind antigen