T cell-mediated Immunity Flashcards
Can gammadelta T cells recognize non MHC bound antigens?
No, they bind to peptides/molecules presented on MHC-like proteins
How is CD8/CD4 switched off during T cell maturation?
Both CD4 and CD8 are initially expressed during the “testing” stage and if the CD8 is activated as the coreceptor it stays that way and CD4 is removed and vice versa.
How do microbes end up inside cells?
A: Microbes enter through phagocytosis by surviving inside and escaping into cytoplasm
B: Viral binding of receptors and entry into cytoplasm
What other functions do T cells do in addition to defense against intracellular pathogens?
T lymphocytes are important for defense against larger extracellular pathogens like bacteria, fungi, and helminths.
The subset of CD4 cells that do this were unknown when classic role of T cells was first defined. A major role of these subsets is to help B cells produce antibodies. Another role is to promote inflammation that is rich in activated leukocytes that are particularly efficient at killing extracellular microbes.
Potential short answer questions on the exam:
The signals needed to activate T lymphocytes, and cellular receptors used to
sense and respond to these signals
– How the few naive T cells specific for any microbe gets converted into large
number of effector T cells that have specialised functions and ability to eliminate
diverse microbes?
– The molecules produced by T lymphocytes that mediate their communications
with other cells, such as macrophages, B lymphocytes, and other leukocytes?
What are the 3 phases of T cmi?
Induction of response: Naive CD4+ T cells and CD8+ T cells recognise peptide antigens presented by APCs in peripheral lymphoid organs. T cells proliferate and differentiate into effector cells.
Migration of effector T cells and other leukocytes to site of antigen
T cell effector functions
How are activated T cells guided to the site of the antigen?
Effector T cells and other leukocytes migrate through blood vessels in peripheral tissues by binding to endothelial cells that have been activated by cytokines produced in response to infection in these tissues
What are the T cell effector functions?
CD4+ T cells recruit and activate phagocytes to destroy microbes
CD8+ cytotoxic T cells kill infected cells and can also activate macrophages
What are the 3 critical stimuli for full T cell activation?
Antigen recognition initiates process
Co-stimulation maximises response
Cytokines amplify response and direct it along various specialised differentiation pathways
What are the phases of T cell response?
Antigen recognition, activation and cytokine secretion.
Some cytokines stimulate proliferation of antigen-activated T cells (clonal expansion) and differentiation into effector T cells.
What does IL-2 do?
Acts on itself to stimulate proliferation/clonal expansion.
IL-2 is also known as a T Cell growth factor
What can T cells differentiate into?
Effector T cells (CD4+ helper)
Memory T cell
Where do effector T cells go after being activated?
Many leave lymphoid organs through blood and migrate to infected tissue and eradicate microbes while others provide signals to B cells that promote antibody responses against microbes.
What receptors and membrane proteins are involved in binding of MHCII and T cell activation?
TCR binds to peptide+MHCII
CD4 - MHCII invariant region
Zeta chain and CD3 bind closely to TCR forming the TCR complex
LFA-1 binding ICAM-1 (same as neutrophil and extravasion)
CD28 binding B7-1/B7-2
What membrane proteins are important for T cell adherence to endothelium?
VLA-4 binding VCAM-1
What are superantigens?
Polyclonal activators of T cells that activate many different T cells.
What kind of problem can superantigens lead to?
Systemic inflammatory disease due to excessive production of cytokines from many T cells.
Why is low affinity selected for with TCRs?
Adhesion molecules on T cells recognize ligands on APCs and stabilise binding of T cells to APCs for long enough for signalling threshold to be achieved.
What is LFA-1 and what does it bind to?
Leukocyte function-associated antigen 1 (LFA-1) which binds to ICAM-1. (IntraCellular Adhesion Molecule 1)
What family of proteins is LFA-1 associated with?
Heterodimeric (2-chain) proteins known as integrins
What receptors are important for co-stimulation of T cells?
Best-defined co-stimulators for T cells are B7-1 (aka CD80) and B7-2 (aka CD86) which bind to CD28 on all T cells.
Which cells have CD28?
Virtually all T cells
Which cells have B7 receptors (aka CD80 and CD86)?
T cells, B cells, dendritic cells, macrophages.
APCs in general.
What happens during co-stimulation?
APC presents antigen on MHCII (via TCR and CD4) in addition to this there must be binding between B7-1/2 and CD28 which results in activation of T cell and in return IL-12 is produced which activates T cell and allows it to proliferate and differentiate.