Year 3 Flashcards
What is flow cytometry used for?
To count and analyse the size, shape and properties of individual cells within a heterogeneous population of cells
What type of data is in flow cytometry?
Quantatative
What is analysed in a flow cytometer?
- Cells
- Tissues
- Organisms
What is the flow order of a flow cytometer?
- Sample
- Fluidics that move the sample into the flow cytometer
- Lasers
- Optics which gather the light
- Detectors to sense the light
- Computer system to output the data into a form that can be analysed
What is the forward scatter proportional to in a flow cytometer?
The size of the cell
What occurs to the forward (side) scattered light in a flow cytometer?
- Detector converts the scattered light into a voltage which is directly proportional to the amount of forward scattered light
- The computer converts this data into a histogram plot with amount of forward scattered light on the x-axis and the number of cells on the y-axis
What is the side scattered light proportional to in a flow cytometer?
Shape and internal complexity of a cell
What form does the data of fluorescence take?
- Histogram plot
* Dot plot
What are the uses of antibodies?
• Blocking/neutralising o Receptors o Cytokines o Pathogens o Toxins • Capturing o Precipitation o ELISA o Purification of cells • Immunotherapy • Scientific and clinical study
What is immunodiagnostics?
Diagnostic methodology that uses antigen-antibody reaction as their primary means of detection
What can be used to link as a label with an antibody?
- Radiation
- Enzyme
- Fluorescent tag
What diagnostic methods can use labelling?
- Western blotting (antigen-enzyme)
- Immunohistochemistry
- Flow cytometry (antigen-fluoresce)
What does CD number stand for?
Cluster of differentiation number
What are CD numbers used for?
Used for the identification and investigation of cell surface molecules providing targets for immunophenotyping of cells
What does CD4- mean?
The patient does not have CD4 cells
What does CD4+ mean?
The patient has CD4 cells
What does CD16low mean?
The patient has a low concentration of CD16
What does CD16high mean?
The patient has a high concentration of CD16
On a histogram where is the positive and negative CD numbers shown?
- Negative to the left
* Positive to the right
What diseases are due to too much immune reactivity?
• Autoimmune diseases o Rheumatoid arthritis o Multiple sclerosis o Lupus • Atopic diseases o Asthma o Siriasis o Anaphylaxis
What diseases are due to too little immune reactivity?
- Infection
* Cancer
What is the definition of tolerance?
- Teaches what is “self” allowing the adaptive immune system to recognise “non-self”
- Essential to prevent autoimmune disease
- Immunocompetent host fails to respond to an immunogenic challenge with a specific antigen
Who discovered that tolerance is acquired and specific?
Peter Medewar by doing skin grafts on mice
What is the danger hypothesis?
If encounter an antigen in a safe environment, the body is tolerant
• If encounter an antigen in a dangerous environment, the body is not tolerant
What is central tolerance?
- Immature self-reactive lymphocytes that recognise self-antigens in generative (“central”) lymphoid organs die by apoptosis; other fates
- This occurs during lymphocyte development
What is peripheral tolerance?
- Mature self-reactive lymphocytes that recognise self-antigens in peripheral tissues are inactivated (anergy), killed (deletion) or supressed
- Occurs after lymphocytes leave the primary lymphoid organs
What features does tolerance have the same as an immune response?
- Antigen specific
- Can exist in T cells, B cells or both
- Has immunological memory (T cell tolerance is more profound and lasts longer then tolerance at the B cell level)
Where do B cells originate from?
Bone marrow
Where do T cells originate from?
Thymus
What does kinetic proofreading do?
- Measure of affinity
* Assesses how well the T cell receptor and its target antigen is bound
What does a high affinity in kinetic proofreading mean?
Strong binding which lasts between T cell receptor and its target antigen
What does a low affinity in kinetic proofreading mean?
Weak binding which falls apart between T cell receptor and its target antigen
What does a resting T cell receptor in a cell membrane that is unphosphorylated mean?
That the T cell receptor is turned off
What does Lck want to do to a T cell receptor?
Phosphorylate TCR
What does CD45 want to do to a T cell receptor?
Dephosphorylate TCR
What does ZAP70 do to a T cell receptor?
Binds to phosphorylated TCRs, signals TCR activation to the rest of the cell
What occurs on the cell membrane of a T cell with regards to a resting TCR?
Lck and CD45 compete = no overall receptor phosphorylation and no ZAP70 binding
What occurs on the cell membrane of a T cell with regards to the TCR and an irrelevant target antigen?
- No strong interaction = no overall activation
* No ZAP70 binding
What occurs on the cell membrane of a T cell with regards to the TCR and a specific target antigen?
- Strong/close interaction = overall activation
- CD45 is too big and is excluded
- Lck is small and can still get to phosphorylate TCR
- ZAP70 binding = T cell becomes activated
What is an immature T cell called?
Thymocyte
What question must be asked before a thymocyte can be released?
- Does it see self MHC at all?
- Does it see self MHC too much?
- Does it react with self-peptides?
- Will it fight intracellular or extracellular infections?
Why is a mechanism for repertoire selection and self-tolerance needed?
- Generation of the TCR repertoire involves many random mechanisms
- The specificity of TCR in the immature repertoire is also random and will include cells with receptors that are harmful (self-antigen recognition), useless and useful (foreign antigen recognition)
Do processing pathways distinguish between self and non-self?
No
What type of antigen is most presented by an antigen presenting cell?
Self-antigens
What is the thymus?
- Lobulated structure with a stroma of epithelial cells and connective tissue
- Stroma provides microenvironment for T cell development and selection
- Lobules differentiate into an outer cortex and inner medulla, both filled with bone-marrow-derived thymocytes
What cells are in the cortex of the thymus?
- Thymocyte
- Cortical epithelial cell
- Immature double positive or double negative thymocytes
What cells are in the medulla of the thymus?
- Thymocyte
- Dendritic cell
- Macrophages
- Medullary epithelial cells
- Mature single positive or single negative thymocytes
How are harmful T cells removed?
Negative selection
How are useless T cells removed?
Neglect - no signal sent to keep it alive
What selection occurs to useful T cells?
Positive selection
What is required for T cell maturation?
Thymus
What happens to T cells if the thymus is removed from an adult and a neonate?
- Adult will have mature T cells within its body - we need the thymus to develop/mature T cells not to maintain them – bone marrow supplies T cells and they mature in the thymus
- Neonates will have no T cells as the T cells have not yet left the thymus in neonates
What percentage of T cells will die in the thymus as a result of stringent processing to find the “useful” T cells?
Approximately 98%
What gets rid of the apoptotic thymocytes?
Thymic macrophages
What is the flow order of T cell development?
- Double negative
- Large double positive
- Small double positive
- Either single positive (with CD4) or single positive (with CD8)
What are the TCR associated molecules and coreceptors of double negative T cells?
- CD3/TCR-
* CD4-/CD8-
What are the TCR associated molecules and coreceptors of large double positive T cells?
- CD3+
- TCR+
- CD4+/CD8+
What are the TCR associated molecules and coreceptors of small double positive T cells?
- CD3+
- TCR+
- CD4+
- CD8+
What are the TCR associated molecules and coreceptors of single positive T cells (with CD4+)?
- CD3+
- TCR+
- CD4+
What are the TCR assocaited molecules and coreceptors of single positive T cells (with CD8+)?
- CD3+
- TCR+
- CD8+
How does the thymus choose which of the cells entering the thymus are useful, harmful or useless?
- Goes through both positive and negative selection
* If lives through both it is useful
What is positive selection?
Retention of thymocytes expressing TCR that are restricted in their recognition of antigen by self MHC i.e. selection of the useful
What is negative selection?
Removal of thymocytes expressing TCR that either recognise self-antigens presented by self MHC or that have no affinity for self MHC i.e. selection of the harmful and the useless
What is MHC restriction?
- Antigen can be seen by the TCR only in the context of an MHC molecule
- TCR will not bind to an MHC molecule unless there is an antigen in the groove
- In the presence of antigen, the TCR must have some affinity for the MHC molecule
What do studies in bone marrow chimeras show in the thymus?
MHC restriction is learnt in the thymus
What MHC haplotype will T cells recognise in bone marrow chimera experiment?
- Mice of a particular MHC haplotype only make T cells restricted by that haplotype
- Bone marrow must contain potential to make T cells restricted by A and B MHC molecules (cross)
What does irradiation prevent in bone marrow chimera?
- Prevents the bone marrow from generating lymphocytes
* Irradiation destroys the immune system but has no effect on the epithelial or dendritic cells of the thymus
How is MHC restriction in the thymus learned?
By positive selection
What cells are restricted by MHC type of the thymus that they mature in, in bone marrow chimera?
Peripheral T cells
How is neglect achieved in useless thymocyte cells?
- Peptide is not recognised or irrelevant
* Thymocyte receives no signal, fails to be positively selected and dies by apoptosis
How is positive selection achieved in useful thymocyte cells?
- Peptide is a partial agonist
- Thymocyte receives a partial signal and is rescued from apoptosis i.e. the cell is positively selected to survive and mature
How is negative selection achieved in harmful thymocyte cells?
- Peptide is an agonist
* Thymocyte receives a powerful (full) signal and undergoes apoptosis i.e. the cell is negatively selected and dies
How accurate is the positive selection model?
- Relied on very complex chimera experiments
- Relied on proof of MHC restriction as an outcome which is tested in an ‘unnatural’ response using MHC mismatched presenting cells
How accurate is the negative selection model?
Relied on exceptionally powerful superantigens operating outside the normal mechanisms of antigen recognition
In a TCR from MHC class I restricted T cell, which type of cells mature?
CD8
In a TCR from MHC class II restricted T cell, which type of cells mature?
CD4
What are the models for double positive to single positive transition?
- Instructive model
* Stochastic/selection model
What is the instructive model?
Signal from CD4 silences the CD8 expression and vice versa
What is the stochastic/selection model?
Cells randomly inactivate CD4 or CD8 gene, whilst testing a match of TcR restriction
What is the differential effect on the mature and immature repertoire in deletion of cells in the thymus?
- TcR from T cell specific for hen egg lysosome (HEL)
- Approximately 100% of T cells express anti-HEL TcR
- Thymocytes activated by antigen in the thymic environment die
- T cells activated by antigen in the periphery proliferate = evidence for negative selection
What occurs to thymocytes in negative selection when in the presence of ecotopic expression of host peptides?
Development of regulatory T cells
What are the consequences of AIRE mutation?
- Human disease
* Mouse knockout
What human disease is a result of AIRE mutation?
- Autoimmune polyendocrinopathy with candidiasis and ectodermal dysplasia (APECED, also called autoimmune polyendocrine syndrome (APSS-1)
- Associated gene identified by positional cloning, named AIRE (“autoimmune regulator”)
What is mouse knockout?
- Autoantibodies against multiple endocrine organs, retina
* Failure to express many self-antigens in the thymus -> failure of negative selection
How are self-peptides presented in the thymus?
- AIRE (autoimmune regulator) is a regulator of gene transcription that stimulates thymic expression of many self-antigens which are largely restricted to peripheral tissues
- Discovered as the genetic cause of a human autoimmune disease APS-1
Summarise positive selection
- Bone marrow chimeras show that MHC restriction is learnt in the thymus
- T cells are ‘educated’ in the thymus to recognise antigens only in the context of self MHC
- MHC restriction is learnt in the thymus by positive selection
- The MHC haplotype of the environment in which T cells mature determines their MHC restriction element
Summarise negative selection
• Two different models can explain the choice whether to become CD4 or CD8 single positive T cells
• AIRE causes thymic epithelial cells to produce many self-proteins
o But not proteins that are in immune privileged sites
o These are captured and presented by professional APCs in the thymic medulla
• Mutations in AIRE lead to failure in negative selection and profound autoimmunity
What is the significance of tolerance?
- All individuals are tolerant of their own antigens (self-tolerance); breakdown of self-tolerance results in autoimmunity
- Therapeutic potential
What is the therapeutic potential of tolerance?
Inducing tolerance may be exploited to prevent graft rejection, treat autoimmunity and allergic diseases, and prevent immune responses in gene therapy, perhaps stem cell transplantation
What is “clonal ignorance”?
Mature self-reactive lymphocyte clones do not encounter or respond to self-antigens
What does anergy in peripheral tolerance result in?
Functional unresponsiveness as anergy inactivates T cells by turning off signals with APCs
What does deletion in peripheral tolerance result in?
Apoptosis after activating cell with APCs
What does suppression in peripheral tolerance result in?
Block in activation by regulatory T cells between APCs and T cells
What does T cell anergy in peripheral tolerance do?
Either blocks signal or engages inhibitory receptors (e.g. CTLA-4)
What are the features of anergy in peripheral tolerance?
- Induced by self-antigens that are displayed to the immune system without inflammation or innate immune response (prolonged signal 1, i.e. antigen, inadequate signal 2)
- Recognition of such antigens may lead to signalling block and/or engagement of inhibitory receptors
- Role of anergy in self-tolerance in humans is unclear (therapeutic potential?)
What does deletion in peripheral tolerance do?
Either activation induced cell death (engagement of death receptors) or activation induced cell death (expression of pro-apoptotic proteins) both ending in apoptosis
What are the features of deletion in peripheral tolerance?
Stimulation of T cells by self-antigen triggers apoptosis by engagement of death receptors (death receptor pathway) or imbalanced expression of pro-apoptotic proteins (mitochondrial pathway)
What evidence is there to support the importance of ACID in maintenance of self-tolerance?
- Mice with mutations in Fas or Fas ligand develop a lupus-like autoimmune disease
- Humans with mutations in Fas or enzyme involved death receptor-induced apoptosis (caspases): the autoimmune lymphoproliferative syndrome (ALPS)
- Eliminating both death pathways in mice -> “spontaneous” systemic autoimmune disease
What does suppression in peripheral tolerance do?
- Recognition of self-antigen in either thymus or peripheral tissues by regulatory T cells
- Inhibit T cell activation (dendritic cell with naïve T cell) or inhibit T cell effector functions
What are the features of suppression in peripheral tolerance?
- Regulatory T cells are CD4+ cells that express high levels of CD25 (IL-2 receptor alpha chain)
- Generated by self-antigen recognition in the thymus or peripheral tissues
- Generation requires a transcription factor called Foxp3 (mutations in Foxp3 are the cause of a severe autoimmune disease in humans and mice
What are the mechanisms of action in suppression in peripheral tolerance?
- May be multiple
- Secretion of immune-suppressive cytokines (IL-10, TGFβ) – inhibits macrophages, dendritic cells and interferon gamma
- CTLA-4 on Tregs blocks B7 on APCs
What is the significance of suppression in peripheral tolerance with regards to self-tolerance?
- Some autoimmune diseases may be associated with defects in regulatory T cells or resistance of responding cells to suppression
- Therapeutic potential of cellular therapy (autoimmune diseases, graft rejection etc)
What is the largest immunologic organ in the body?
The gastrointestinal tract
In the GIT what might take up antigens in oral tolerance?
- Peyer’s patches
- Dendritic cells
- Epithelial cells
What is the most important immune cell in oral tolerance induction?
Regulatory T cell
What factors can influence oral tolerance induction?
- Antigen related
- Inherent to the host
- Disturbances at different steps can be described in food hypersensitivity
The introduction of antigens to the body has different routes with distinct outcomes. What routes lead to immunity?
- Subcutaneous, intramuscular and intradermal
* Infection/injury
The introduction of antigens to the body has different routes with distinct outcomes. What routes lead to tolerance?
- Intravenous
- Portal vein
- Anterior chamber of the eye
- Mucosal
What can oral feeding of antigen induce?
An active (but inhibitory) immune response that is mediated by T cells
What factors allow oral tolerance to be multifactorial?
- Induction of clonal anergy
- Induction of clonal deletion
- Induction of T regulatory cells which produce suppressor cytokines
What does a low dose oral tolerance mean?
Immunoregulation – some immune cells prevent others from responding to antigen
What does a high dose oral tolerance mean?
Anergy/deletion – the cells themselves lose the ability to respond to the antigen used to induce oral tolerance
Compare use of antigen between oral tolerance and vaccines?
- Tolerance has a soluble antigen
* Vaccines have an antigen plus adjuvant, particulate antigens
Compare number of dosages between oral tolerance and vaccines?
- Tolerance has repeated doses (prolonged and sustained)
* Vaccines have a limited number of vaccine doses
Compare amount of dosage between oral tolerance and vaccines?
- Bolus dose of 20-500mg or multiple injections of 1mg
* Vaccines have a low antigen dose, typically in ug concentrations
What are some types of viral infections?
- Encephalitis/meningitis
- Eye infection
- Common cold
- Parotitis
- Pharyngitis
- Gingivostomatitis
- Cardiovascular
- Pneumonia
- Myelitis
- Hepatitis
- Pancreatitis
- Gastroenteritis
- Skin infections
- Sexually transmitted diseases
What diseases are linked (not all fully confirmed) to infection?
- Alzheimer’s disease
- Asthma
- Atherosclerosis
- Autoimmune diseases
- Cancer coronary heart disease dementia
- Stroke etc
What autoimmune diseases are linked (not all fully confirmed) to infections?
- Crohn’s
- Lupus
- Multiple sclerosis
- Psoriasis etc
What does Epstein Barr Virus cause?
- Autoimmune diseases
- Breast cancer
- Oesophageal cancer
- Hodgkin’s lymphoma
- Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
- Seasonal affective disorder
- Lupus multiple sclerosis
How many amino acids is the class I epitopes of antigens?
8-10
How many amino acids is the class II epitopes of antigens?
18-20
What are some features of viruses?
- Simple structure (subcellular level)
- Obligate intracellular agents – unable to replicate outside cells, enter cells via receptors
- Induce diseases through damage of cell in which they replicate or induction of the immune response
- Infection can be either acute or chronic (active and latent)
What are the mechanisms of the innate immunity as a defence against viruses?
- Inhibition of infection and induction of antiviral state type I interferons (IFN-α and β)
- Killing of infected cells (NK cells)
How is antiviral action of type I interferons done?
Once a cell is infected with a virus it will secrete type I interferons which leads to the upregulation of enzymes that inhibit replication (non-specific) of uninfected cells with IFN receptors protecting it from infection. The type I interferons also increase expression of class I MHC molecules which promotes cytotoxic T cells to kill the infected cell
What happens in the destruction of infected cells by NK cells when the inhibitory receptor is engaged?
NK cell binds to a normal autologous cell by the activated receptor to the ligand for NK cell and the inhibitory receptor that binds to the self-class I MHC – self peptide complex. This leads to the NK cell not activating so the normal autologous cell is not killed
What happens in the destruction of infected cells by NK cells when the inhibitory receptor is not engaged?
NK cell only binds to the ligand for NK cell of the virus infected cell (class I MHC negative – virus inhibits class I MHC expression). the NK cells are activated and kills the infected cell
What are the mechanisms of the adaptive immunity as a defence against viruses?
• Humoral immunity – B cells and antibody lead
o Neutralization (IgG and IgA)
o Antibody-dependent cell mediated cytotoxicity (IgG)
o Opsonization (IgG)
• Cell mediated immunity – CD8+ and CD4+ T cells lead
o Killing of infected cells (CD8+ T cells)
o Activation of CD8+ T cells and B cells (CD4+ helper T cells)
How does neutralization of viruses occur without antibodies present?
- No neutralization
- Microbe can penetrate the cells to the epithelial cells where it can bind to tissue cell receptor and infect the tissue cell
How does neutralization of viruses occur with antibodies present?
- Neutralization
* Antibody blocks binding of microbe to the cells so they cannot bind to the cell and infect them
What are the protective mechanisms of antibodies?
- An antibody can bind to the virus and C1q can bin to the antibody. This activates complement with complement components binding to complement receptors on the macrophage allowing phagocytosis
- An antibody can bind to the Fc receptor on a macrophage blocking the binding of the virus to that Fc receptor allowing phagocytosis
- Antibodies can bind to the virus blocking the uptake through cellular receptors on target cells
- Antibodies can signal to NK cells that they have bound to a virus on a (infected) target cell. The NK cell then kills the target cell
What is the mechanism of killing by CTLs (cytotoxic leukocytes)
- Antigen recognition and conjugate formation
- CTL activation
- CTL granule exocytosis
- Apoptosis of target cell
- Granzymes enter cell via receptor-mediated endocytosis and enter cytoplasm via perforin-dependent mechanisms -> activation of apoptotic pathways
How does an NK cell kill?
- Either by perforin and granzymes resulting in apoptosis
* Or FasL and Fas receptor binding resulting in apoptosis
What are some mechanisms of immune evasion of viruses?
- Antigenic variation (influenza, HIV …)
- Inhibition of antigen processing and presentation (many viruses)
- Inhibition of immune response (many viruses)
- Infection of immune cells (HIV…)
- Establishment of latency (HSV, HIV…)
- Inhibition of apoptosis (Herpes and Pox viruses …)
How has the Influenza virus gone through antigenic variation?
- Influenza infected humans and birds
* An epidemic strain that affects both birds and humans then infect a pig with a pandemic strain
How does a virus inhibit antigen processing and presentation?
• They can inhibit the class I MHC pathway of antigen processing
o They inhibit the proteasomal activity (done by EBV and human CMV)
o Block the TAP transport (HSV)
o Block MHC synthesis and/or ER retention (adenovirus or human CMV)
o Removal of class I from ER (CMV)
o Interference with CTL recognition by “decoy” vital class I-like molecules (murine CMV)
How can viruses inhibit immune responses?
Through production of virokines and viroreceptors
How does Epstein Barr Virus inhibit the immune response?
EBV infected B lymphocyte inhibits macrophage activation by secreting IL-10 and binding to the receptor on the macrophage inhibiting it
How does Poxx Virus inhibit the immune response of the body?
• Pox virus infected tissue produces IL-1 and IFN-γ receptors (viroreceptors) to block IL-1 and IFN- γ activation on the macrophage
What is a potential disadvantage of antigenic variation?
Requires mutation
What are the benefits of antigenic variation?
- Extend the length of infection
* Infect hosts with prior exposure
Why is an extended length of infection a benefit of antigenic variation?
- The new variants allow the virus to stay one step ahead of the immune response as with each new mutant strain the host must generate a new response - Use high mutation rates to stay ahead of the adaptive immune response
- Some viruses, like hepatitis C virus, escape by evading antibody response or a persistent infection with a high variability in the envelope protein indicating positive selection (that the infected cell in useful)
- Use antigenic variation to escape surveillance (Trypanosoma brucei achieves this not by mutation but by differential expression)
- Some viruses persist in vivo by ceasing to replicate until immunity wanes (latency – not transcriptionally active, and causes no disease)
How is antigenic variation achieved?
- Mutation
- Recombination
- Differential expression of archived variants
- HIV evades CTL responses by changing their dominant epitopes
- Epitopic space allows for a higher capacity for infection
How does CTLs kill in a normal immune response?
- MHC molecules present antigen from cytosol
* Cytotoxic T cell recognises complex of viral peptide with MHC class I and kills infected cell
What peptides does class I present?
Cell made intracellular peptides
What peptides does class II present?
Found exogenous peptides from the environement
How do viruses escape CTLs?
Amino acid substitutions of the epitopes
How can amino acid substitutions of the epitopes allow them to escape recognition?
- Can interfere with processing and transport of peptides
- Can reduce binding to MHC molecules
- Can reduce the affinity of TCR receptor binding
How can CTL escape be done by interfering with processing/transport?
A study of murine leukaemia virus (MuLV – oncogenic retrovirus) showed that a single amino acid substitution in a viral peptide can alter cleavage pattern and hence epitope presentation and hence CTL response
What type of mutation is the single amino acid substitution responsible for CTL escape?
Single point mutations
What is the end result of interfering with processing/transport in CTL escape?
The epitope is unavailable to MHC and CTL responses to FMR type is weak
How can CTL escape be done by reducing MHC binding?
- Mutations that reduce peptide-MHC binding
- This can either prevent MHC from dragging the peptide successfully to the cell surface, or from holding on to it once there
What is an example of reduced MHC binding for CTL escape?
• SIV/macaques used as a model for HIV
o An epitope Tat was shown to have mutation in the Tat viral epitope that destroyed binding to the MHC
o Little variation outside of the epitope
o End result - Positive selection to block MHC binding
What is an example of reduced TCR binding to escape CTLs?
- LCMV system shows a single amino acid change that can lead to a decline in affinity for the TCR
- Tissot et al (2000) showed a Y to F substitution in one immunodominant epitope caused a 100-fold reduction in affinity for the TCR
- End result – escape mutation that destroy the immune system’s ability to see that viral epitope
What are some examples of pathogens that sample from a pool of archival genomic variation?
- Trypanosoma brucei
- Borrelia hermsii
- Plasmodium falciparum
What does Trypanosoma brucei cause?
Sleeping sickness
What does Borrelia hermsii cause?
Relapsing fever
What does Plasmodium falciparum cause?
Malaria
Why do sensory neurons remain infected?
- The virus remains quiescent, few viral proteins are produced and hence there are few virus-derived proteins to present on MHC class I
- Neurons carry low levels of MHC class I molecules making it harder for CTLs to recognise and kill them
Why would neurons have low MHC I expression?
Low levels of MHC I expression may be beneficial to the host since it reduces the risk that neurons, which cannot regenerate, will be attacked inappropriately by CTLs
How does Mycobacterium tuberculosis use antigenic variation to extend the length of infection?
- Resists destruction b host defence mechanisms/exploits them
- It is taken up by macrophages but prevents the fusion of the phagosome with the lysosome, effectively hiding from antibody-mediated immunity
What vaccine is a good vaccine in that is has excellent cross-reactivity?
Measles virus vaccine
When does cross-reaction occur?
Occurs when the host can use its specific recognition from prior exposure to fight against a later, slightly different antigenic variant
What causes antigenic drift?
Point mutations in the genes encoding surface proteins
What causes antigenic shift?
Reassortments leading to novel surface proteins
What are features of antigenic drift?
- Seasonal (Influenza)
- Predictable annual occurrence
- Residual immunity in population
- Neutralizing antibodies against hemagglutinin/neuraminidase block binding to cells
- Mutations alter hemagglutinin/neuraminidase epitopes so that neutralizing antibody no longer binds
What are features of antigenic shift?
- Pandemic (Influenza)
- Unpredictable rare occurrence
- “Naïve” population
- Antigenic shift occurs when RNA segments are exchanged between viral strains in a secondary host
- No cross-protective immunity to virus expressing novel hemagglutinin/neuraminidase
What are the features of primary immunodeficiencies?
- Genetic basis
- Majority are diagnosed in children
- Milder forms may not be recognized until adulthood
- About 1 in 500 people is born with a primary immunodeficiency