Lecture 1- Exam 2 Flashcards
What is a pathogen?
Any organism with the potential to cause disease
Pathogen are divided into 4 kinds: list them
- bacteria
- viruses
- fungi
- parasites (unicellular protozosa, multicellular invertebrates, worms)
What is the function of IS?
- To prevent entry of foreign cells into the body
- Eliminate foreign agents that have entered the body
What are foreign agents?
microorganisms (bacteria, viruses, yeasts, fungi, parasites) and the products of these organisms (endotoxin/exotoxin), foods, pollen, chemical, drugs)
What are exotoxins and endotoxins?
- Exotoxin: proteins secreted by certain species of bacteria which diffuse in the surrounding medium
- Endotoxin: usually heat stable lipopolysaccharide-protein complexes which form structural components of the cell wall of gram negative bacteria – released during cell lysis or death of bacteria
What else is the function of the IS?
- Eliminate abnormal self cells (cells become abnormal due to age, infection, intracellular pathogen, transformed/cancer)
- Some immune cells are also involved in the removal of dead cells or tissues and in the generation of new blood vessels
What are examples of external barriers?
- Physical barriers – skin – first defense
- Chemical barriers- has the enzyme lysozyme in tears and saliva- antibacterial substance secreted from mucosa. Cilia in the lungs participate in continual cleansing of unwanted material breathed in, acidic environment in the stomach, vagina or skin deters microorganisms
- Microbiologic barriers- commensal microorganisms (gut, vagina, etc.)
What is systemic defense? What are the two examples?
Systemic defense – involved in the destruction and elimination of foreign agents that have made it through the external barrier or altered self cells
* Cellular component – cells of innate immunity (phagocytosis), cells of acquired immunity (specialized cells such as T cells)
* Humoral component–antibodies,complement proteins, antimicrobial proteins
All epithelial surfaces secrete antimicrobial peptides called _
defensins
What does defensins do?
Defensins kill bacteria, fungi and enveloped viruses by disrupting their membranes
To prevent defensins from disrupting human cells they do what?
To prevent defensins from disrupting human cells they are synthesized as part of a longer, inactive polypeptide and function poorly unless they are in lower ionic concentrations of sweat, tears, or the lumen of the gut to become active
Most epithelia is coated with a flora of what?
Most epithelia is coated with a flora of nonpathogenic microorganisms that compete with pathogens
How many microbial species live in healthy human gut? What is this called?
- More than 500 microbial species live in the healthy human gut- called commensal species
What does the commensal species do? (3)
- inhibit colonization by pathogens
- enhance human nutrition by further processing digested food
- making vitamins
What happens when a patient takes antibiotics?
- When a patient takes antibiotics, the nonpathogenic flora is killed together with the pathogens that caused the disease
- The body is recolonized by microorganisms – can be bad or good!
What is the innate immunity?
- The immunity we were born with, includes the barriers, it’s fast, no memory
What is the adaptive (acquired) immunity?
specific, diverse, slow, can develop immunologic memory. Can be passive or active
What is passive immunity or active immunity?
- Passive immunity- refers to the situation when the person receives the antibodies from another source. Includes transfer of antibodies through placenta, colostrum (breast feeding), genetically engineered antibodies (vaccine)
- Active Immunity- refers to the situation when the individual is exposed to an antigen (naturally or through immunization). The individual builds up their own defense (antibodies) against the antigen
What is c.diff?
The innate mechanisms are determined entirely by what?
the genes a person inherits from their parents
Innate fast or slow? What does it cause?
- Works fast, within minutes, responsible for causing fevers!
How does an innate immune response to pathogen every time?
- Keeps no memory of specific pathogens, responds the same way every time to a pathogen
Innate immune response:
* Recognition of pathogen causes what?
* WHat is activated?
- Recognition of a pathogen, recruitment of effector cells that engulf bacteria, kill virus infected cells, or attack protozoan parasites and a battery of serum proteins called compliment (mark pathogens with molecular flags)
- Serum proteins of the complement system are activated in the presence of a pathogen to form a covalent bond between a fragment of complement protein and the pathogen, the pathogen gets marked as dangerous.
Innate immune response:
1. The soluble complement fragment summons what?
1. Effector cell has what?
1. The receptor and bound ligand are what?
- The soluble complement fragment summons a phagocytic WBC to the site of the complement activation
- Effector cell has a surface receptor that binds to the complement fragment attached to the pathogen
- The receptor and bound ligand are taken into the cell by endocytosis and further to the phagosome where it is destroyed
What are the different components of the complement system?
Where does all cells of the innate system originate from? What are they?
Originate from the pluripotent hematopoietic stem cell
* These stem cells derive leukocytes, erythrocytes, and megakaryocytes
What is hematopoiesis?
the development by which hematopoietic stem cells give rise to hematopoietic cells
Where are the different sites of hematopoiesis?
- Early embryo- blood cells are produced in the yolk sac->liver.
- 3rd-7th week of fetal life the spleen is the major site of hematopoiesis
- As the bones develop during the 4th-5th month, hematopoiesis starts to shift toward the bone marrow and by birth it is all in the bone marrow
In adults, where does hematopoiesis occur?
occurs mainly in the bone marrow of the skull, ribs, sternum, vertebral column, pelvis, and femurs
Hematopoietic stem cells can also become cells that commit to one of two cell lineages: What are they? Why are they different?
myeloid or lymphoid
What are granulocytes?
prominent cytoplasmic granules, which contain reactive substances that kill microorganisms and enhance inflammation
* Neutophil, Eosinophil, basophil
What are Neutrophils and what do they do?
- most abundant (95% of circulating granulocytes) and lethal granulocyte – specializes in capture, engulfment, and killing of microorganisms AKA phagocytes.
- Rapidly mobilize to enter sites of infection, first cells to arrive. They can work in anaerobic situations.
- 6hr half life, release granules causing damage to host tissue, die at the site of infection, forming pus
What are eosinophil? What do they defend in? When do they increase in?
Second most abundant granulocyte – defend against helminth worms and other intestinal parasites.
*Abundant in the mucosa of the gastrointestinal tract where they defend against parasites, and in the mucosa of the respiratory and urinary tracts.
* Circulating eosinophils are increased in allergic diseases such as asthma and in various other respiratory and gastrointestinal diseases
What are basophil? What do they release and when?
least abundant (0.2%), release histamine and other inflammatory mediators when activated by binding of specific antigens to IgE molecules - participate in immediate-type hypersensitivity (allergic) reactions
Mast cell:
* Where does it live?
* What does it do?
* What is it part of?
- lives in all connective tissue
- activation and degranulation of this cell at sites of infection is a major contributor to inflammation, release granules (including histamine)
- large part of allergic response
What are monocytes?
leukocytes that circulate in the blood, bigger than granulocytes, distinctive indented nucleus. All cells look the same, thus “mono”cytes. They travel in the blood to tissues where they mature to macrophages
What are macrophages?
well equipped for phagocytosis. Scavengers. Long lived commanders. Provide intelligence to other cells and orchestrate local response to infection. Secrete cytokines that recruit neutrophils and other leukocytes to the area. Usually the first phagocytic cell to sense an invading organism
What are the functions of monocytes/macrophage?
Dendritic cells:
* Lives where?
* What type of morphology?
* Common with what?
* What do they do?
- Lives in the body’s tissues, have distinct star shaped morphology.
- Have many properties in common with macrophages, but their unique function is to act as cellular messengers to initiate the adaptive immune response.
- They do this by leave the infected tissue with a cargo of degraded and intact pathogens to bring to one of several lymphoid organs
Lymphocytes:
* Look like what?
* What do they do?
- Lymphocytes are practically filled with the nucleus; monocytes are the largest of the white cells and have variably shape nuclei.
- Neither stain to the same extent as basophils or eosinophils, while the neutrophil is pale by comparison and have a multilobed nucleus that helps the squeeze through the small gaps in capillaries when called upon to fight bacterial infections.
What is the lymphoid lineage?
has both a cell of innate immunity and two cells of the adaptive immune response