Lecture 2 Flashcards
What are the three main things that can influence how quickly an infection can be eliminated?
- The type of pathogen (degree of pathogenicity)
- The amount of pathogen the host was exposed to
- The immune status of the host (do they have any memory?)
True or False: all multicellular organisms have adaptive immunity?
False: only vertebrates
all multicellular organisms have innate immunity
Give 4 examples of physical that form part of the innate immunity
Skin (tight junctions between skin epithelial cells)
Mucosal linings of intestinal tract and nasal passages
Cilia
Coughing and Sneezing, acidic pH, antimicrobial peptides on surface, commensal bacteria provide competition)
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Give 4 examples of chemical barriers that form part of the innate immunity
Acidic pH (stomach, skin surface)
antimicrobial peptides on skin
Defensins and cathelicidin (can be found on skin, in saliva) disrupt bacterial membrane and cell wall synthesis
Lysozyme in saliva and tears cleaves peptidoglycan in bacterial cell wall
Why is the innate immune system non-specific?
PRRs on surface of innate immune cells recognise PAMPs (E.g. Lipopolysaccharide)
What are the main cells involved in the innate immune response?
Macrophages, dendritic cells (both are phagocytes)
Natural killer cells (NK cells)
Granulocytes (neutrophils, eosinophils, basophils)
Describe the main steps of phagocytosis by APC (5 steps)
- APC recognises PAMPs on pathogen via their PRR
- internalisation of pathogen in a phagosome
- fusion with lysosome to form phagolysosome
- killing and digestion of pathogen
- antigen presentation on MHC II
recognition of PAMP via PRR and subsequent phagocytosis results in signalling that upregulates expression of MHC II and cytokines/chemokines
What are the four main families of PRRs?
- Toll-like receptors
- C-type lectin receptors
- Intracellular nucleic acid receptors
- NLRs
Which 3 innate cells have PRRs on their surface and in endosomes?
Macrophages, dendritic cells, and NK cells
True or false: only innate immune cells have intracellular PRRs?
False: most cells in the body have intracellular PRRs.
Give an example of an extracellular PRR and the PAMP it recognises
Extracellular PRR = TLR4
PAMP = LPS of gram -ve bacteria
Give an example of an endosomal PRR and the PAMP it recognises
Endosomal PRR = TLR9
PAMP = hypomethylated DNA of bacteria and viruses
Give an example of a cytosolic PRR and the PAMP it recognises
Cytosolic PRR = cGAS
PAMP = cytosolic DNA from viruses and intracellular bacteria
Describe the activation of a signalling cascade via Toll-like receptors (TLRs) in response to PAMP binding
External leucine rich repeat (LRR) binds PAMP
causes oligomerisation of receptor and clustering of the receptor intracellular TIR domains (Toll-IL-1 receptor homology)
results in signalling cascade
What is the effect of TLR signalling?
Upregulation of pro-inflammatory cytokines via activation of NF-kB transcription factor.
Upregulation of interferons and antiviral responses through activation of IRF3 and IRF7 transcription factors
Why can different pathogens elicit different immune responses?
Depending on the PRR that recognises the PAMP, different signalling cascades will activate different transcription factors and increase the expression and secretion of different moecules.