Immunology Flashcards
Does the immune system need to discriminate from non-self?
Yes.
What are the characteristics of innate immunity?
Instinctive, non-specific, does not depend on lymphocytes and present from birth, primitive, does not depend on immune recognition, no memory and integrates with adaptive response.
What are the characteristics of adaptive immunity?
Specific (acquired/learned) immunity, requires lymphocytes and involves antibodies.
What do innate and adaptive immunity have in common?
Are both made up of cells and soluble factors (humoral).
What are Polymorphonuclear leukocytes?
Immune cells that have granules with enzymes. Examples are neutrophils, eosinophils and basophils.
What are mononuclear leukocytes?
A type of mononucleated WBCs. Examples are monocytes, T-cells and B-cells.
Where do monocytes go before differentiating into macrophages?
They leave the blood and go into tissue.
Complement system
A series of about 20 serum proteins secreted by the liver that need to be activated to be functional.
What is the only way the complement system can be activated?
Can only be activated as part of the immune response. The 3 pathways are direct lysis, attract more leukocytes to the site of infection and coat invading organism.
What are the 5 distinct classes of antibodies?
IgG, IgA, IgM, IgD and IgE
What are cytokines?
Proteins secreted by the immune system and non-immune cells. Help other cells to become resistant to viral infections.
What are the 5 types of cytokines?
Interferons (IFN), interleukins (IL), colony stimulating factor, tumour necrosis factors, chemokines.
What are interferons (IFN) used for?
To fight antiviral infection.
What are interleukins (IL) used for?
Can cause cells to divide, to differentiate and to secrete factors.
What are colony stimulating factors used for?
Division and differentiation of bone marrow stem cells.
What are tumour necrosis factors used for?
Mediate inflammation and cytotoxic reactions.
What are chemokines used for?
Leukocyte chemo attractants.
What is the innate immune system composed of?
Physical and chemical barriers, phagocytic cells (neutrophils and macrophages) and blood proteins (complement, acute phase)
What are the steps of the inflammatory response?
Stop bleeding (coagulation), acute inflammation (leukocyte recruitment), kill pathogens, neutralise toxins, limit pathogen spread, clear pathogens, proliferation of cells, remove the blood clot, re-establish normal structure/function of tissue
What is inflammation?
A series of reactions that brings cells and molecules of the immune system to sites of infection or damage.
What are the hallmarks of inflammation?
Increased blood supply, increased vascular permeability, increased leukocyte trans-endothelial migration ‘extravasation’.
Definition of phagocytosis
A cellular process for ingesting and eliminating particles larger than 0.5 μm in diameter.
What are the steps of phagocytosis mediated by opsonic receptors?
Binding, engulfment, phagosome formation, lysosome fusion, membrane disruption/fusion, secretion and antigen presentation.
