Lymphocytes Flashcards
What is Adaptive Immunity?
An immune response which is tailored to a specific pathogen - involves the expansion of antigen -specific lymphocytes which target the pathogen specifically and involve the formation of memory cells which provide longer lasting immunity
What are the innate immune cells?
macrophages, neutrophils
What are the adaptive immune cells?
lymphocytes
T cells (orchestrates immune response/ kills infected cells), B cells (makes antibodies)
Why do we need adaptive immunity?
Only evolved relatively recently
Absence of adaptive immunity results in inability to clear infections e.g., “SCID babies”
Protect us from repeat infections with the same pathogens
Not without costs- can lead to autoimmunity
What are the characteristics of adaptive immunity?
Improves the efficacy of the innate immune response
Focuses on the site of infection and the organism responsible
Has memory
Needs time to develop
What are the characteristics of immunological memory?
Once the immune system has recognised and responded to an antigen, it exhibits “memory”
Memory responses are characterised by a more rapid and heightened immune reaction that serves to eliminate pathogens fast and prevent diseases
Reduction in severity on re-exposure
Antigen specific lymphocytes (B&T) are the cellular basis
Basis for vaccines
What are the 2 types of adaptive immune responses?
T cells
B cells
What is the role of the T cell adaptive immune response?
The ‘cell-mediated’ response
Produces cytokines to help shape immune response (CD4)
Kill infected cells (CD8)
What is the role of B cell adaptive immune response?
Humoral response
Produces antibodies
When is an adaptive immune response generated?
Once the pathogen overwhelms innate defense mechanisms
What major event occurs in the peripheral lymphoid organs/tissues to initiate the adaptive immune response
B or T lymphocytes encounter antigens for which their receptors have specific reactivity to
What is an antigen?
molecules that act induce an adaptive immune response
What is an epitope?
the region of an antigen which the receptor binds to
What are the two hallmarks of the adaptive immune response?
Highly specific and provide lasting immunity
How is diversity generated in the adaptive immune response?
Immunoglobulin gene rearrangement - each BCR chain is encoded by separate multi gene clusters on different chromosome, and during B cell maturation, these gene segments are rearranged and brought together
What type of epitopes do T and B cells recognise?
T cells recognise linear epitopes, B cells recognise structural epitopes
What are the chains of the BCR receptor?
Kappa, lambda and heavy chain
Where does B cell Maturation occur?
In the bone marrow
What is another word for gene reassortment?
recombination
How does recombination occur and what is it?
○ Functional genes for antigen receptors do not exist until they are generated during lymphocyte development
○ Each BCR receptor chain (kappa, lambda, and heavy chain genes) is encoded by separate multigene families on different chromosomes
○ During B cell maturation these gene segments are rearranged and brought together
○ This process is called immunoglobulin gene rearrangement
○ Immunoglobulin gene rearrangement generates the diversity of the lymphocyte repertoire
What are some problems with the random process of gene reassortment to generate the high number of BCRs we need.
Autoimmunity - producing BCRs and TCRs that complement your own self antigens
What is immunological memory?
Where memory lymphocytes exist in the blood that are able to recognize and bind to the same antigen upon subsequent infections and therefore induce an immune response
What are characteristics of a a secondary immune response?
Faster and must larger response
What are the two primary cells involved in the adaptive immune response and which response are they involved in?
T cells = Cell Mediated Response
B cells = Humoral / Antibody Reponse
What are the differences between B cells and T cells?
T cells mature in thymus, B cells in bone marrow
T cells have CD4 and CD8 receptors, B cells have different one
T cells do not produce antibodies, B cells do
B cells need to be activated by T cells to function
B cells tend to stay outside of lymph nodes eg in Peyers Patches, T cells inside lymph nodes
What are characteristics of the T cell receptor (TCR)?
The T cell receptor part of a complex proteins on the cell surface
The variable region made by gene reassortment (10^15-10^20)
Recognise antigen fragments presented by other cells in the context of MHC
What is MHC?
Major histocompatibility complex
Group of genes that code for proteins found on the surfaces of cells that help the immune system recognize foreign substances
- plays a central role in defining self and nto self
- presents antigens to T cells
- Critical in surgery and donor matching
What is MHCI?
MHC class 1:
all nucleated cells, although at various levels
Has a single variable alpha chain plus a common beta-microglobulin
What is MHCII?
MHC class 2:
normally only on ‘professional’ antigen presenting cells
- Has 2 chains, alpha and beta
Describe MHC gene expression.
Encoded by HLA genes in humans
The MHC is polygenic: 3 class I and class II loci
Expression is co-dominant (maternal and paternal; genes both expressed)
- Therefore each person can have up to 6 of each gene if completely heterozygous
More than 17000 MHC variants
What are the regions on a TCR?
variable region
constant region
transmembrane aspect (not a part of it but it crosses this)
cytoplasmic tail
alpha and beta sides
Describe MHC/ TCR interaction.
(Type, processed in…, presented on…, presented to…)
What are the three kinds of T cells?
Regulatory, helper (CD4) (Th), killer (CD8) (CTL)
What happens when an antigen binds to a TCR?
The cell proliferates and differentiates into one of three functional types of effector T cells: Cytotoxic (killer), helper or regulatory
What do CD4 and CD8 bind to?
cell surface molecules of CD4= MHCII
cell surface molecules of CD8= MHCI
What are cytotoxic T cells?
The kill other cells that are infected with viruses or intracellular pathogens that bear the specific antigen
What do helper T cells do?
They provide signals, normally in the forms of cytokines which activate the functions of other cells, like B cells to produce antibodies
What do regulatory T cells do?
They suppress the activity of other Lymphocytes and help to limit the possible damage due to immune response