Overview of Immunology Flashcards
What are the basic differences between innate and adaptive immunity?
Innate immunity works quick and rapid, there is no memory and is not antigen specific
Adaptive immunity takes longer to activate, is antigen specific, develops after exposure, and is more effective
What are the three major components of the innate defense system?
barriers of infection, soluble factors, cellular factors
What is the bodies barrier to infection?
intact skin and mucous membranes
What are the soluble factors of the innate defense system?
complement system, innate defense cytokines, and defensins
What is the complement system?
enzyme cascade system that has antimicrobial activity
What is the most important type of innate defense cytokine in the innate defense system?
pro-inflammatory cytokines
What are the important pro-inflammatory cytokines that we should remember?
Interleukin 1 (IL1), interleukin 6 (IL6), and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)
What are the important cellular factors to the innate defense system?
phagocytes and sentinel cells, and innate lymphoid cells
What is the function of sentinel cells?
resident tissue cells that detect invasion by recognizing DAMP and PAMPs and sending signals to initiate a response
What are the specific sentinel cells?
macrophages, dendritic cells, and mast cells
What is a DAMP?
damage associated molecular patterns: molecules found within mammalian cells and released when the cell is damaged or dies
What is a PAMP?
pathogen associated molecular patterns: molecules produced by microorganisms but not mammalian cells
What are the most important innate lymphoid cells?
cytokine secreting ILCs and Cytotoxic ILC-NK (natural killer cells)
What are the two major components of the adaptive immune system?
Humoral (soluble) and cell-mediated
What are the humoral components of the adaptive immune system?
B-cells and antibodies
Why are B-cells important to the adaptive immune system?
because they produce antibodies and antibodies provide humoral immunity
What is the general antibody important to the adaptive immune system?
Immunoglobulin - Ig
What are the cell-mediated components of the adaptive immune system?
CTLs, Th cytokines, and Gamma Delta T cells
Where does an antibody come from?
a fully differentiated B cell
What are the classes of antibodies?
IgM, IgG, IgA, IgE, IgD
What is important about IgM?
it is the largest antibody molecule and is the first to respond
Where is IgG found and what is it important in?
it is found in serum and is important in systemic diseases
Where is IgA found?
in mucous and mucous membranes
Where is IgE found and what is it important in?
it is found in mast cells, and is important in allergy and to protect against parasitic infection
Where is IgD found and what is it important for?
it is on b cell membranes and is a marker of maturation in B-cell development
What class of antibodies is not secreted in plasma?
IgD
What are the two general types of T cells?
alpha beta T cells and gamma delta T cells
What are the types of alpha beta T cells?
CD4 - T helper cells, and CD8 cytotoxic T cells
What is the function of T-helper cells?
they produce cytokines to regulate innate and adaptive immune mechanisms
What are T-helper cells important in?
for directing which antibody class is produced and activating cellular responses
What is the function of cytotoxic T cells?
they attach and kill cells that make foreign proteins
What do cytotoxic t cells recognize?
MHC 1 molecule
What is the function of gamma delta t cells?
they are for protection on mucosal surfaces, can kill and secrete cytokines, and are antigen specific
What part of the immune response are gamma delta t cells?
the adaptive response
What is an antigen?
Molecules that can stimulate an immune-specific
adaptive response.; anything that can bind to a b-cell or t-cell receptor
What is an immunogen?
an antigen that induces an immune response; interchangable term with antigen
What is an antibody?
a molecule that attaches to antigens and is produced by b-cells; what the body produces
What is an antibiotic?
a molecule produced by one microorganism to attack another microorganism
How does an antibiotic function?
it acts on bacteria to inhibit their growth or kill them
What is a cytokine?
protein messenger molecules that are produced when sentinel cells sense damage
What is complement?
20-30 plasma proteins in circulation from the liver that are inactive and when activated are involved in the rapid enzyme cascade system
What is the memory response also known as?
the anamnestic response
When does the memory response occur?
on re-exposure to an antigen
How is the antibody produced in the memory response different than the first antibody that would have been produced?
it is higher in titer, has a higher affinity, and has a shorter lag time
How does tolerance work?
When antigens are presented during lymphocyte development they are recognized as self and tolerated, when antigens are presented after lymphocyte development they are recognized as foreign and attacked
What happens when tolerance breaks down?
autoimmune diseases happen
