Lec 1: Basic Concepts in Immunity Flashcards
What is the goal of immunity?
- to return the body to a state of homeostasis
What 3 things stem from the goal of immunity?
- defending the host
- cleaning up debris/spent cells
- controlling tissue damage
What are the 10 principles?
- The goal of immunity is to help return the body to a state of homeostasis
- Host-pathogen interactions are strong drivers for evolution of immune defence mechanisms
- Immune conservation occurs across two dimensions
- Conservation is not consistent across the spectrum of immune responses
- Comparative models govern veterinary immunology
- Immunity can also contribute to disease progression
- Microorganisms are not just the bad guys
- Each host cell must properly control several functions
- Protein expression dictates the cellular response that results
- The immune system acts in the context of an overall host response
What is the challenge for invading microbes?
- devise clever evasion strategies to overcome immune defence mechanisms and increase potential for survival and spread
What is the ultimate goal for the animal host?
- to avoid death from infection
Define functional redundancy.
capacity of immune tools to exert similar and overlapping functions on specific cells to provide extra safeguards if one layer of the system were to fail or be overcome by pathogen invasion strategies
Define functional pleiotropy.
capacity of immune tools to exhibit a wide variety of biological functions on various tissues and cells
What are the ‘two dimensions’ across immune conservation?
phylogeny and ontogeny
What is phylogeny?
evolution over millions of years
What is ontogeny?
- development from embryo to fetus to adult
Is conservation consistent across immune responses?
- no
Describe innate immunity.
- not affected by prior contact with infectious agents
- non specific
- wide range
- localized
- ready to go
- phagocytosis and complement cascades
Describe adaptive immunity.
- specific
- adaptable
- systemic
- includes antibodies, antigen presentation, recognition of self/non self
- forms basis of memory
What is a pro of conservation of immune response?
- time proven strategy for elimination of infiltrating pathogens
What is a con of conservation of immune response?
- many pathogens can jump from species to species