lecture 6 Flashcards
What induces clonal deletion?
recognition of self Ag in bone marrow
What happens when non-self Ag activate a B cell?
allows it survival and differentiation into plasma cell that produces same antibody as the BCR
What happens once B cells have survived the bone marrow selection process?
B cells move into the blood and lymphatics
What does antibody secretion by plasma cells result in?
Neutralisation - antibody prevents bacterial adherence
Opsonisation - antibody promotes phagocytosis
Complement activation - antibody activates complement, which enhances opsonisation and lyses some bacteria
How are B cells activated?
Needs several signals
Naïve B cells express membrane Ig/BCR (IgM (+IgD)) and encounter non-self Ag in secondary lymphoid tissue
Binding of Ag to BCR provides signal 1 to B cell
What is the molecular basis of Ag/BCR signal 1?
BCR associated polypeptides involved in signalling
Crosslinking BCR activates intracellular kinases
What is ITAM? What is it’s function?
tyrosine-based activation motif
activated by phosphorylation when receptors are ligated and produces an intracellular signal - leading the cell to do something
How can signal 1 be increased/enhanced?
If antigen has activated complement cascade - lots of C3b
Complement receptor 2 (CR2) on B cell surface (CD21) - CR2, CD19, CD81 form the BCR co-receptor complex which augments the signal
Binds antigens by B cell receptor and complement receptors on surface
Each b cell has same complement receptor
Means that they can recognise both antigens and other b cells
If Ag that binds BCR is coated with C, what else can it bind to?
It can also bind CR2 on B cells to give an increased signal
Has complement attached so can engage complement receptor
BCR/CR2 signal sending is stronger that from just BCR
How do B cells receive signal 2 differently depending on the type of Ag they bind?
Thymus-independent Ag - signal 2 is provided by the antigen itself or by extensive cross-linking of BCR
Thymus-dependent Ag - signal 2 is provided by CD4+ T cells
What peptides do T cells only signal?
peptides displayed by mhc
How do TI and TD antigens interact with B cells differently?
TD antigen only interacts with BCR
TI can interact with multiple receptors
Can take antigen up and process it to express its antigens on its mhc class 2 so b cell can activate t helper cell which binds peptide from that antigen producing signal 2
What is the role of Thymus-independent (TI) Ags?
they lead to antibody production (only IgM) with no requirement for T cell involvement
What are the two types of TI Ags?
1) TI-1 Ag
2) TI-2 Ag
Why can TI Ags only lead to antibody production of IgM?
No class switching without t cells can only stay as IgM