Midterm I material Flashcards
What are the most fundamental barriers to infection?
Physical and chemical barriers, such as scales, skin, and mucosal layers
Where can we find epithelial linings? And what is the similarity between all these locations?
digestive, respiratory, urinary, and reproductive tracts. All have openings to the environment which makes these areas vulnerable to pathogens.
How do epithelial linings protect against pathogens?
Provide a physical barrier and make secretions (mucus, enzymes, and stomach acid) which often ensnare, destroy or wash away pathogenic material.
Name and describe eight physical barriers of infection.
- epidermis
- provides a physical barrier
- periodic shedding removes microbes - mucous membranes and mucous
- traps microbes and foreign particles - hair
- within the nose -> filters air - cilia
- lines the upper respiratory tract
- traps and propels inhaled deposits - lacrimal apparatus
- produces tears that cleanse the eye - saliva
- dilutes the number of microbes
- washes the teeth and mouth - urine
- flush microbes out of the urethra - defecation and vomiting
- expel microbes
What are AMPs and what kind of barrier of infection do they provide?
Anti-microbial peptides which provide a chemical barrier to infection
How do AMPs create an immune response (2)?
- direct killing
- immune modulation by acting as markers of infection that recruits and activates immune cells
How does the different composition of animal cell membranes vs bacteria membranes affect AMP binding?
AMPs are highly charged; whereas animal membranes are not, and they also contain cholesterol which creates gaps, which doesn’t allow for stable binding of AMPs; ultimately preventing auto destruction.
Bacteria membranes are charged and do not contain cholesterol which allows the alpha-helices of the AMP to effectively bind the membrane
What are the three ways that AMPs disrupt bacterial membranes?
- barrel staves that create pores
- torodial (reshape the membrane)
- carpet (encapsulate membrane)
What is the general purpose of primary lymphoid organs?
Sites where immune cells are made and matured
What are the two primary lymphoid organs and what process occur in each?
- bone marrow - hematopoiesis
- thymus - lymphopoiesis
Describe hematopoiesis
blood cell development that occurs in the bone marrow where hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) goes through asymmetric cell division, where one daughter cell remains as an HSC and the other becomes a progenitor cell
What are the two types of progenitor cells that arise from hematopoises and what does each type arise into?
- common myeloid progenitor (CMP) -> innate
- common lymphoid progenitor (CLP) -> adaptive
Describe lymphopoiesis
T-cell maturation that occurs in the thymus (of all vertebrates) to give rise to a T-cell progenitor
What is the role of the secondary lymphoid organs?
adaptive immune responses occur predominately in the secondary lymphoid organs
Name four secondary lymphoid organs
- spleen
- intestine
- lymph nodes
- tonsils
Name and describe the main four tissues/organs that make up the secondary lymphoid system
- mucosa associated lymphoid tissues (MALT -> tonsils + Peyer’s patch)
- deal with pathogens entering the mucosa - bronchus associated lymphoid tissues (BALT)
- deals with pathogens that are inhaled - lymphatics and lymph nodes
- deal with any pathogen that has succeeded in entering tissue - spleen
- filters blood
- deals with pathogens that have entered the blood vasculature (i.e systemic infections)
What secondary lymphoid tissue are M-cells apart of and what is their role?
Part of GALT and they internalize intestinal microflora and transport them to Peyer patches in the lamina propria
Where are B and T cells found?
Primarily: aggregate into secondary lymphoid organs
Secondarily: blood stream, but they have a shorter life due to no survival signals
What are the three main compartments in the spleen?
- primary follicles
- marginal zone B cells (MZ B cells)
- periarteriolar lymphoid sheath (PALS)
What is the purpose of the primary follicles in the spleen, and what are the main constituents?
Purpose: essential for Ab optimization in adaptive immune responses
Constituents: naive B cells and follicular DCs (FDCs; good APCs)
What is the purpose of the marginal zone B cells (MZ B cells) in the spleen?
Purpose: non-circulating mature B cells (also found in follicles)
What is the purpose of the PALS in the spleen, and what are the main constituents?
T cell compartment directly surrounding the so-called central arterioles and they are present with blood borne Ags via myeloid DCs
What enters the lymph node through the affect lymphatics, and what exists via the efferent lymphatics?
Enter: Ag.s, and APCs
Exit: lymphocytes, APCs
Which cells are found in the follicle of a lymph node and which cells are found in the paracortex
follicle: B cells
paracortex: T cells
What does a humoral response broadly refer to\?
not directly associated with cellular acitivites
What are the differences between innate and adaptive immune responses?
Innate:
-limited/fixed specificity
- immediate response
- no lag time from exposure
- no immunological memory
- short-term defense
Adaptive:
- diverse specificity
- delayed response (on purpose - adaptive immune system is adaptive)
- lag time from exposure
- immunological memory
- long term defense
What makes up an innate cellular response?
- granulocytes
- monocytes
- macrophages
- NK cells
What makes up an innate humoral response?
- complement
- AMPs
- enzymes
- cytokines
- mucus
What makes up an adaptive cellular response?
- T cells
- B cells
What makes up an adaptive humoral response?
- Ab.s
- cytokines
What are the best phagocytosing cells?
- macrophages
- neutrophils
What are the steps of phagocytosis?
- pathogen binds to receptor
- structural changes occur
- pathogen is brought in as a phagosome
- phagosome fuses with a lysosome to create a phagolysosome
- the pathogen is destroyed
- the pathogen debris is either presented on an MHC II complex or exocytosed which can signal to other cells
Which cells perform degranulation?
Granulocytes (mast, basophil and eosinophil) and NK cells
What are the steps of degranulation?
- antigen binds to membrane-bound IgE -> activation
- preformed vesicles (granules) which are already present in the absence of activation are exocytosed from the cell (degranulation)
What are three general triggers of degranulation?
- receptor-binding agonists
- physical activators
- cell-cell contact
What are three main constituents that granules release?
- preformed molecules
- T and B cell ligands
- newly synthesized mediators
What are the four main functions that innate immune cells can demonstrate (note: not all innate immune cells preform all of them)
- phagocytosis
- degranulation
- ROS production
- NET release
What are the functions of a macrophage and where are they localized?
Function: phagocytosis foreign pathogens and cancer cells; stimulates response of other immune cells
Localization: migrates from blood vessels into tissues
What are the functions and localization of DCs?
Functions: professional APC, triggers adaptive immunity, phagocytosis
Localization: present in epithelial tissues (skin, lung, and digestive tract), migrates to lymph nodes upon activation
What are the functions of neutrophils and where are they localized?
Function: first responders at the site of infection or trauma, releases toxins that kill or inhibit bacteria and fungi (degranulates), recruits other immune cells to the site of infection
Localization: migrates from blood vessels into tissues
How do T cells function in cell-mediated immunity?
- lysis infected cells
- activates macrophages which leads to microbial killing
How do B cells function in cell-mediated immune responses?
internalize Ab-coated pathogens -> facilitates their maturation into plasma B cells
What is the range of AMPs?
broad spectrum -> highly specific
all together, they can kill all types of pathogens
Name broad activity AMPS
- defensins (alpha and beta)
- dermcidin
Name specific activity AMPs
- cathelicidin (LL-37)
- histatins
What is the role of chemokines?
- facilitate the recruitment and migration of immune cells to sites of infection
- act as beacons for circulating immune cells and change adhesion properties around sites of infections
Which cells produce Ab.s?
B cells
Why are Ab.s considered to be specific?
They are made against very small portions of a pathogen
What are the three important experimental tools that help us identify cell types?
- hybridoma technology and monoclonal Ab.s (MAbs)
- fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS)
- CD Ag.s (cluster of differentiation or determinants)
How are mAbs made?
Ag with multiple epitopes is injected into a mouse -> spleen cells are isolated -> plasma cells are fused to immortal cancer cells to make immortal hybridoma -> cells are selected in media which only hybrids survive -> hybrids clones are sorted and isolated -> monoclonal Abs
How can cells be identified (what properties of cells can differentiate them from others) and which detector in FAC determines the differnces?
- shape and size of the cell (scatter)
- absence or presence of specific surface markers (red PMT)
- differences in their internal complexities
Is CRISPR adaptive or innate immunity
adaptive
What processes require cytokines for proper regulation?
- release of tissue mediators
- inflammatory cell recruitment
- killing of microbes
- vascular response
- DC maturation
- T cell priming in lymph nodes
What is a cytokine signal?
any event that instructs a cell to change its metabolism. function, or proliferative state
How do cytokines change a cell’s state?
cytokine signalling causes change in the transcriptional program of the target cell which changes the gene regulation and influences the protein production
What macromolecule are cytokines?
proteins
How can cytokines act in the body?
- endocrine
- paracrine
- autocrine
How do cytokines demonstrate pleiotropy?
- one cytokine can elicit different outcomes on different cells
- different outcomes on the same cell - depends on the signal intensity
How can different cytokines interact with the cell and affect the outcome? Give an example for each interaction type
- redundant: several different one -> same outcome (e.g. IL2, IL4, IL5 -> B cell proliferation)
- synergistic: different cytokines cooperate to create a response (e.g. IL-4 + IL-5 -> B cell class switch to IgE)
- antagonistic: different cytokines can block each others actions (e.g. IFNgamma + IL-4 -> block class switch to IgE by IL4)
how can cytokines be amplified?
- enhance the production of the original cytokine
- produce other cytokines
What are some examples of local effects produced by cytokines?
- vascular endothelial
- increase adhesion molecule
- increase permeability
- decrease flow rate
- increase chemokine expression - parenchymal
- increase chemokine expression
- increase cytokine synthesis - tissue leukocytes (MCs and DCs)
- increase activation
- increase degranulation
What are some examples of systemic effects of cytokines?
- liver
- increase acute phase proteins - hypothalamus
- increase fever - bone marrow
- increase neutrophil mobilization
What are the six cytokine families?
- interleukin-1 family
- class 1 cytokine family
- class 2 (interferon) cytokine family
- tumor necrosis factor family
- interleuckin-17 family
- chemokines
What are some characteristics of the IL-1 family of cytokines?
- promote inflammation
- stimulated by viral, parasitic or bacterial Ags
- secreted very early in the immune repsonse by macrophages and DCs
- act locally on capillary permeability to pull leukocytes to infected tissues
- act systemically on the liver -> production of acute phase proteins
- can help activate adaptive immune responses (e.g. regulates types of immune cell to be differentiated into)
- Pro-IL-1 is cleaved to its active form IL-1
What is the receptor family of IL-1 family of cytokines and name a ligand?
receptor: immunoglobulin superfamily receptors
ligands: IL-1B
What are some characterisitcs of the hematopoietic class 1 cytokines?
- promote cellular differentiation
- lineage-restricted cytokines play an essential and specific role in hematopoietic differentiation
What is the receptor family of hematopoietic class 1 cytokines and name a few ligands?
receptor: class 1 cytokine receptor (hematopoietin)
ligands: IL-4 and IL-6
What are the two types of interferon cytokines in the class II (IFN) family, and what are characteristics of each?
- type I IFN
- IFNa and IFNb are small dimers with antiviral effects
- secreted by activated macrophages and DCs
- induce synthesis of ribonucleases and inhibit protein synthesis - type III IFN family (IFNgamma)
- secreted by specialized DCs
- upregulate genes controlling viral replication and HC proliferation
- both pro- and anti-inflammatory effects
What is the receptor family of class II (IFN) cytokine family and what are some ligands?
receptor: class II cytokine R (IFN)
ligands: IFNalpha -> gamma, IL-10
What are some characteristics of TNF cytokine family?
- regulates: development, effector function and homeostasis of skeletal, neuronal and immune cells
- are soluble or membrane bound
- short intracytoplasmic N-term regions -> used for signalling
- longer extracellular C-term region
- generally type 2 transmembrane proteins form as trimers when binding to TNFR-1
What is the receptor for TNF cytokines and what is a ligand for this receptor?
receptor: TNFR
lignads: TNFa
What is a major source of IL-17 cytokines?
gammadeltaT cells
note: TH17 cells intial function was characterized on their production of IL17
What is the function of IL-17 cytokines?
Promote neutrophil accumulation and activation, proinflammatory
What are some characteristics of chemokines?
- promote chemotaxis, cell adhesion, and mediator release
- subdivided into 4 classes based on their structural characteristics
- alter the environment such that immune cells can arrive to the site of infection
What is the receptor family of chemokines?
receptor: GPCRs
Describe the steps of how chemokines recruit immune cells to the site of infection
- damage to tissues/cells within a region relaease inflammatory molecules (cytokine/chemokine)
- chemokines act as beacons for regions where damage has occured
- immune cells circulating within the blood recognize the presence of chemokines and follow a gradient to site of infection
- chemokines alter the expression of adhesion proteins near the site of an infection (epithelial cells affected)
- immune cells transfer from the blood into infected and/or damaged tissue whereby they become activated to cytokines
- activated immune cells destroy pathogens
Name some proinflammatory cytokines and describe their role?
cytokines: TNF, IL-1, IL-6, chemokines
role: induce inflammatory activities of immune cells
Name some antiinflammatory cytokines and describe their role?
cytokines: IL-10, IL-1ra, TGFbeta
role: help in resolution of inflammation
Name cytokines that inhibit viral replication, and describe their role
cytokines: IFNalpha, IFNbeta
role: viral infection protection
Name some macrophage-activating cytokines and describe their role
cytokines: IFN-gamma
role: activate innate immune responses
Name some B cell activating cytokines and describe their role
cytokines: IL-4 -> 6, IL-21
role: help in activation and generation of plasma and memory B cells
Name some T cell activating cytokines and describe their role
cytokines: IL-2, IL-4, IL-12, IFN-gamma
role: help in producing adaptive immunological responses
Name some eosinophil and/or mast cell activating cytokines and their role
cytokines: IL-3 -> 5, IL-13
role: help induce parasitic immunological responses
Describe three properties of receptors?
- can be transmembrane proteins
- can be peripheral proteins (need other proteins to create a signal)
- have extracellular binding domains and intracellular signalling domains
Describe the general steps of receptor activation
- upon binding to ligands, receptors become activated
- signal transduction signaling - recruitment and activation of additional proteins
- activation of cellular responses
How can molecular changes occur in a receptor upon ligand-receptor binding?
- conformational
- dimerization/clustering
- location in the membrane
How do receptor alterations lead to a cascade of intracellular events?
- activation of enzymes
- changes in intracellular locations of molecules