immunology Flashcards
what are the consequences of having a penicillin allergy?
- significant restriction in available antibiotics
- potential harm from other drugs
- longer inpatient stays
- higher incidences of antibiotic resistant infections
- higher costs
what are the steps you can undertake to confirm penicillin allergy?
- retake history + timing of drugs + symptoms + other concurrent medical issues
- SPT/ID testing; intradermal tests and blood tests; take drug and put tiny amount on skin to see any reaction
- sIgE
- Drug challenge
why is Type 1 hypersensitivity symptoms reproducible?
as the Ig antibodies dont go away
What are the sid effects of penicillins, macrolides and opiates?
penicillins; nausea, diarrhoea, candida
macrolides; abdominal pain, nausea, diarrhoea
opiates; itch, sedation, hallucinations
what is the difference between side effects and allergies?
with allergies your immune system dictates the response to the allergy but does not for side effects
how do NSAIDs stop arachidonic acid from accessing catalytic site?
the NSAID will block both Cox1 and Cox2 inhibitors by binding at an arginine molecule halfway up the channel inhibiting the access of arachidonic acid and so inhibiting synthesis of prostaglandins PGI2 and PGE2, thromboxanes TGA2
how is red man syndrome caused?
due to the intake of vancomycin and its infusion; slow to <10mg/min and with an antihistamine
can happen first dose
- direct mast cell degranulation can occur
- if opiates are being taken this can cause mast cell degranulation also
vancomycin binds to mast cell and histamine is released into peripheral circulation
what are SJS/TEN?
severe adverse cutaneous reactions
- skin reaction seen by blistering rash
how can you treat SJS/TEN?
- antibiotics
- aromatic anticonvulsants
- antiretrovirals
- allopurinol
- NSAIDs
if patients have TEM or Steven-johnson syndrome what should you do?
stop the drug
what is the definition of anaphylaxis?
- an acute, severe, life-threatening allergic reaction in pre-sensitised individuals, leading to a systemic response caused by the release of immune and inflammatory mediators from basophils and max cells involving at least two organ systems
what symptoms will occur with patients with urticaria and angioedema?
urticaria: airway compromise
angioedema: rapid CV collapse
what is the process of the immune response for Type 1 hypersensitivity?
- T cells will help and Th2 cytokines will help B cells
- Class switches to produce antigen specific IgE
- the IgE binds to high affinity mast cells on surface of high affinity receptor on surface on mast cell
- the mast cells have granules with histamine
- the protein antigen will cross link the receptor and send signals to do the degranulation
- mast cell degranulation will occur causing histamine, tryptase and lipid mediators to be released
what causes symptoms for Type 1 hypersensitivity?
there is a sudden rise in histamine
most reactions will occur within minutes of allergen exposure
how does serum conc. work for histamine and mast cell tryptase change?
histamines conc goes up and down and peaks within 15 minutes
mast cell tryptase steadily increase and then decreases over 24 hours
how does histamine cause hypotension?
histamine increases NO release and so the BP will decrease
this causes organs to not be able to perfuse properly
how does histamine cause vascular leak (oedema)?
histamine will alter the permeability of tight junctions and so these will open and fluid leaks out and eventually causes angioedema
how does histamine cause bronchoconstriction/spasm?
it has direct and indirect effects on bronchial smooth muscle
- opens up the blood vessels and constricts airways and causes wheeziness
how does histamine cause mucus secretion?
histamine has a direct effect on goblet cells of respiratory mucosa
- histamine can cause mucus plugging in the lungs and there is difficulty recruiting alveoli to ventilator capacity so adult cant breathe properly
what can mucus plugging cause?
can cause patient to become rapidly hypoxic
what are common causes for anaphylaxis?
- cows milk
- eggs
- drugs and drug exposure
- nuts
what are the co-factors for anaphylaxis?
- drugs
- antigen dose
- ace-inhibitors
- alcohol
- route of delivery
- hormones
- infections
- opioids
- EtOH
- exercise
what is the ABCDE process?
A- airway B- breathing C- circulation D- disability E- exposure
what are the airway, breathing and circulation danger signs for anaphylaxis?
airway - persistent cough - vocal change - difficulty swallowing - swollen tongue breathing - wheezy - noisy breathing - stridor circulation - loss of consciousness - pre- syncope - confusion
why should you lay a patient flat with their leg slightly up when having an anaphylaxis?
it helps blood reach the brain quicker
what is the purpose of the drug adrenaline?
- increases peripheral vasoconstriction
- increases peripheral vascular resistance
- increases BP and coronary artery perfusion
- decreases vascular permeability and angioedema
- maintains bronchodilation
- decreases inflammatory mediator release
how often should you administer an adrenaline after first dose? how should it be administered
5 mins after first dose if needed
and should be given IM
what is the adaptive immunity system made up of?
it is made up of T cells, B cells and high affinity antibodies
how long does the adaptive immunity take to activate?
4-6 weeks but is able to rapidly up regulate on re-exposure
has good memory and is highly tailored to infection
where are T cells derived from and where do they mature?
derive from stem cells in bone marrow and mature in the thymus
what type of T cells are there and what do they subdivide into?
there are CD4 T cells and CD8 T cells
CD4 T cells subdivide into Th1, Th2, Th17 and Treg based on cytokines they produce
where are B cells derived from and where do they mature?
what do they differentiate into?
derive from stem cells in bone marrow
mature in the bone marrow/spleen and then migrate to lymph node
terminally differentiate into long lived plasma cells
produce antibodies (IgM, IgE, IgA)
what are B cell receptors identical to?
the antibody it produces
why is the adaptive immunity system necessary?
bacteria can produce thousands of proteins and we dont have enough energy to fight all these bacteria that we consider as threats
how does the adaptive immune system actually work?
from the APC cells in the innate immune system they will send instructions to the CD4, CD8 and B cells
the CD8 cells are cytotoxic T lymphocytes, the CD4 cells co-ordinate and produce cytokines and the B cells will produce the antibodies which cause feedback to occur in the innate system
what occurs in the feedback process of the innate immune system?
there is a production of antibodies or cytokines
opsonisation can occur where a foreign cell is made more susceptible to phagocytosis
what is a T cell receptor made up of?
it has a section called the Fab fragment which is responsible for binding to antigens
it has a constant region
it has an alpha and beta chains
what is a B cell receptor made up of?
it is made up of a heavy chain attached to a light chain
it has two Fab fragments which allow immunogobulin of the T cells to bind to lots of high variable sets of targets
what is the T cell response in the adaptive immune system when it recognises proteins?
a linear peptide epitope( part of a foreign antigen/protein) is presented on the MHC
this binds to a T cell triggering a T cell response
the T cell response means T cell proliferation which occur and cytokine production will occur. Help to B cells will be given and cytotoxicity occurs
what is the B cell response in the adaptive immune system when it recognises proteins?
a conformational epitope will be recognised by the Fab fragments on the B cell receptors triggering a B cell response; can only occur when epitope is attached and is the right shape
B cell response in antibody production and antigen presentation
for each chain of the receptors what regions are present?
you have 1 variable region, 1 diversity regions and 1 joining region
these regions are created by shuffling and recombining different fragments of genes
what do B cells do in a typical immune response?
- a naive B cell receptor will be engaged by antigen
- B cell will present the antigen in MHC II to T cells
- B cell can also also allow IgM production ( rapid and low affinity)
- after antigen is presented, T cells can give help to cognate the B cells and this causes the B cells to switch to high affinity antibody producing plasma cells
how do T cells help B cells?
when T cells help B cells this means that B cells can switch the type of antibody they produce to tailor it to the pathogen
what is the role of CD4 Th cells in the T cell response for the immune response?
on the surface of the APC there is a MHC II which has a peptide that is presented
the CD4 Th cell will recognise the peptide and differentiation will occur to produce Th1, Th2 and Th17
Th1; macrophages will be produced to target intracellular bacteria
Th2; eosinophils will be produced to target worms parasites
Th17; neutrophils will be produced to target extracellular bacteria
what is the role of CD8 CTL cells in the T cell response for the immune response?
on the APC there is a MHC I which has a peptide binded to it that is presented on cell surface
the CD8 recognises the dangerous green peptide
it will then seek out other cells containing and presenting this peptide and destroy these cells
it kills virally infected cells that are MHC-I dependant
what are antibodies made up of?
it has 2x heavy chains binded by disulphide bridges to 2 x light chains
each light chain has a Fab fragment which binds to the antigen
the heavy chains have the Fc fragment which contains the antibodies; IgM, IgD, IgG, IgE and these bind to receptors and determine their function
what do antibodies do?
- neutralise toxins
- opsonise pathogens
- agglutinate; stick to pathogens and sticks them together to make complexes
- blocks viral entry
- antibody dependant cellular cytotoxicity; stick to target and facilitate cytotoxicity from NK cells
- activate complements
what are the different classes of antibodies?
IgA, IgG, IgM, IgE
IgE; mast cell affinity and anaphylaxis
IgA; mucosal, lung and gut
what does the heavy Fc chain do? how is it involved and differ with B cell and T cell responses?
determines function of the antibody for early B cell response the default immunoglobulin class is IgM and response is rapid and has lower affinity; fixes complement for later T cell response the Fc fragment will change to IgG, IgE or IgA to refine the antibody response; the Fab fragment stays the same
what are the characteristics of adaptive immunity?
- highly specific; generates a clone of T cells with receptors or B cells with antibodies specific to proteins in a specific pathogen
- allows memory; once clone of a specific T cells has developed these become memory cells that can respond rapidly upon re-exposure
what are MHC’s?
molecules that bind to peptides of foreign cells/pathogens to display on cells so T cells can recognise these dangerous peptides
what is polyclonal immunoglobulin?
it is when thousands of B cells with different receptors all produce a different immunoglobulin molecule
what is monoclonal immunoglobulin?
it is when there is a single B cells and so produces identical immunoglobulins with same target and functions
what do monoclonal antibodies look like and consist of?
has a Fab domain which is engineered to bind any protein target
has a Fc domain that can engage specific receptors and generate specific immune functions
has conjugation where a drug will stick on and can go wherever the antibodies bind to
how do you make monoclonal antibodies?
place an antigen with epitopes in an animal and you isolate the serum first and then also isolate spleen cells to get the plasma cells and myeloma cells
then you hybridise the plasma and myeloma cells to produce hybridomas and select which clones to place into solution
what are some blockbuster drugs?
- anti-TNF-alpha
- anti CD20 B cell depletion
what is the drug Rituximab and how does it target the B cells?
it is a anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody
has a fab domain target CD20 where a protein is expressed on all B cells until they become plasma cells
has a FC domain that is IgG1- binds to CD20 the domain interacts with receptors to activate complement
rituximab can directly kill CD20 expressing cells too