Section IV: Adaptive Immunity Flashcards
What is specificity
- recognition of foreign substances
- a small molecule called hapten can also act as an antigen, but only when bound to a larger molecule
What are the characteristics of adaptive immunity
- specificity
- self recognition
- memory
What is memory
following the first exposure to antigen, immune system develops memory to provide rapid secondary response to same antigen
What is the bodies two part strategy for eliminating foreign material
- humoral response
- cell mediated response
What is a humoral response
eliminates antigens that are extracellular, for example bacteria in the bloodstream
What is a cell mediated response
deals with antigens residing within a host cell, for example a virus infected cell
What is the structure of an antigen
large carrier molecule with epitopes projecting from surface. Epitopes interact with antibody and T cells
What are the origins of exogenous antigens
those that have entered the body from the outside, for example by inhalation, ingestion, or injection
What are the origins of endogenous antigens
those that have been generated within the cell, as a result of normal cell metabolism, or because of viral or intracellular bacterial infection
What are superantigens
- do not behave as normal antigens. Rather than attaching to the MHC groove and triggering a normal immune response, superantigens attach onto the sides of the binding site
- as a result, T cells go on an unregulated rampage, uncontrollably releasing regulatory molecules-such as interferons- in toxic amounts
What are Class I MHC’s
- presents proteins (antigens) from inside cell
- also presents abnormal proteins on surface of virus infected cells or tumor cells for inspection by cytotoxic T cells
- cytotoxic T cells will destroy “non-self” proteins
What are Class II MHC
presents antigens from outside cell
-MHC II proteins display non-self which will be recognized by helper T cells
Where are MHC II proteins found
ONLY on immune cells called antigen presenting cells
What are activated dendritic cells
Found in those tissues which are in contact with the environment: in the skin and lining of nose, lungs, stomach, and intestines
What are activated macrophages
- present antigen early in infection
- the presence of the antigen activates macrophages
- activated macrophage processes the antigenic material
What happens following processing by an activated macrophage
- epitopes from the antigen are presented on the macrophage surface in combination with MHC proteins
- presented antigen is the recognized by helper T cells
- recognition activates the helper T cells
What do activated helper T cells regulate
Cell mediated and Humoral immunity
Does a T cell produce antibodies
no… never… never ever
Do T cells interact with free antigens
no.
- anitgen must be presented to T cell by another cell (CD4 cell)
Where are inactive (naive) T cells located
- restricted to circulation
- cannot migrate into tissues
What is required for activation of T cells
- must encounter antigen presented on cell in antigen-MHC complex
- must also be concurrently stimulated by other molecules
What does activation of T cells lead to
- formation of specific effector cells types
- effector T cells have different roles in cell mediated immunity
What are functions of activated T cells
- proliferative, develop into different effector cells
- bring antigens to naive T cells
- Release lymphokines which act as messengers, they do not respond to specific antigen, instead lymphokines act to recruit other cell types, particularly macrophages
What are CD4 T lymphocytes and what is there roll
- T cells that carry the CD4 marker can be T helper cells
- The role of T helper cells is to judge the significance of antigen presented by APC’s