Theme 5 - 5a (Tolerance) Flashcards
tolerance is important in which kind of immunity
adaptive
how are self reactive immune cells made
- random gene arrangements that generate TCR and BCR can produce self reactive immune cells
- self reactive immune cells have potential to trigger ‘horror autotoxicus’ or AUTOIMMUNITY
what is immunological tolerance
the body maintains immunological tolerance - a state of unresponsiveness to particular antigens
what is central tolerance
- when T cells are ‘EDUCATED’ in the thymus
- when B cells are ‘EDCATED’ in the BONE MARROW
- to not respond to self antigens
what is peripheral tolerance
there are many mechanisms used by B and T cells to maintain peripheral tolerance
describe central tolerance of the T cells in thymus
what are the two parts
where do they occur
what are the limitations?
- thymocytes develop in bone marrow BEFORE migrating to thymus
- POSITIVE SELECTION: in thymic cortex, the T cells are tested for MHC BINDING. T cells that dont bind undergo APOPTOSIS
- NEGATIVE SELECTION: in thymic MEDULLA, specialised epithelial cells (tmec - thymic medullary epi cells) and some DCs present SELF ANTIGEN AND MHC complexes. The T cells that bind with HIGH AFFINITY for self antigen or MHC undergo APOPTOSIS
LIMITATIONS: - not all self antigens/MHC can be expressed in the thymus
- deleting ALL self reactive cells would limit the REPERTOIRE (we do not know what we may encounter in the future)
- this method cannot account for INNOCUOUS ENVIRONMENTAL ANTIGENS
recap: what % of thymocytes surive and do not undergo apoptosis and can become T cells
~5%
describe central tolerance of the B cells in bone marrow
- B cells that bind self antigen can undergo 3 POSSIBLE FATES
1) if they have HIGH AFFINITY BCRs then they undergo RECEPTOR EDITING: the LIGHT chain of B cell is edited and genes reordered to express a new receptor that does NOT bind self antigen
2) if this fails and the new receptor binds self antigen then it DELETED and undergoes APOPTOSIS
3) if there is WEAK recognition of self antigen, then the B cell can be released in an ANERGIC (unresponsive) state
why are some self reactive /binding immine cells req
for: mediating tumour surveillance, regulating inflammatory immune responses
if an autoreactive immune cell escapes central tolerance and enters the periphery, how are they regulated?
via 4 mechanisms for T cells and 3 mechanisms for B cells
achieving diversity in the host immune response is done at the risk of what
the risk of generating specificity for self antigens
what are the names of the 4 mechanisms used for peripheral tolerance
1) IGNORANCE
2) LACK OF CO-STIMULATION (ANERGY)
3) ACTIVATION-INDUCED CELL DEATH (DELETION VIA APOPTOSIS)
4) EFFECT OF REGULATORY T CELLS
describe ignorance as a mechanism of peripheral tolerance used by T cells
- some self antigens are ONLY EXPRESSED at certain times (eg hormones in puberty, inflammatory responses) so they are NOT PRESENT during positive or negative selection in the thymus
- some self antigens are SEQUESTERED/HIDDEN in immunologically privileged sites (amterior chambe rof eye, behind BBB) which are not accessible to T cells
- some self antigens are not present in SUFFICIENT QUANTITIES (low dose) to reach threshold of activation for TCR
O if self antigen remains hidde/not expressed, tolerance is maintained
describe lack of co-stimulation: anergy as a mechanism of peripheral tolerance used by T cells
- if TCR os stimulated in the ABSENCE of co stimulation (via CD28/CD80/86) it can lead to ANERGY
can be induced via: - costimulator deficient APCs (including tolerogenic or immature DCs) (eg lack of CD80 on APC)
- the action of distinct co-stimulatory pathways eg. CTLA-4 that INHIBITS CD28 binding to CD80/86 (B7 . 1/7.2)
- CTLA-4 expression is induced upon TCR stimulation and has high affinity for CD80/86 (B7.1/7.2) on APCs
- CTLA-4 engagement sends an inhibitory signal to block further TCR signalling – so works as a regulatory function to dampen down T cell responses – binding to CD80/86 also supresses APC(Mutations in CTLA-4 gene are associated with some autoimmune diseases)
what is the role of CTLA-4
it is a reglatory ‘checkpoint molecule’
- when there are ENOUGH T cells for the immune response, the activation of T cells needs to be SLOWED
- after several mitotic divisions T cells start expressing FEWER CD28 and instead express MORE CTLA-4
- CTLA-4 can then bind to CD80/86 which sends an INHIBITORY SIGNAL to the T cell, making it UNRESPONSIVE - anergic