Immunity, Vaccines, Superantigens I

Question 1

Which vaccines are administered in toxoid form?

Answer 1

Diptheria and tetanus toxins.

Question 2

Describe the trivalent oral polio vaccine (TOPV).

Answer 2

Oral vaccine containing live attenuated strains of all three serotypes of poliovirus. It induces local and systemic immunity.

Question 3

Describe the inactivated polio vaccine (IPV).

Answer 3

Contains killed virus; administered subcutaneously to induce a systemic immune response.

Question 4

What type of vaccine is the MMR vaccine?

Answer 4

Live vaccine.

Question 5

What type of vaccine is the varicella vaccine?

Answer 5

Live attenuated virus.

Question 6

What type of vaccine is the flu vaccine?

Answer 6

A live attenuated vaccine that contains three virus strains (typically two type A strains and one type B strain)

Question 7

Which flu strains exhibit the greatest antigenic variation?

Answer 7

Type A strains.

Question 8

Name two superantigens.

Answer 8

S. pyogenes and S. aureus (p.201)

Question 9

What is the principle effect of superantigens?

Answer 9

Superantigens can activate any T cell which leads to a massive release of cytokines.

Question 10

How do endotoxins/lipopolysaccharides (gram negative bacteria) stimulate macrophages?

Answer 10

Stimulate macrophages directly by binding to endotoxin receptor CD14. Th cells are not involved (p.201)

Question 11

What trait provides salmonella with antigen variation?

Answer 11

2 flagellar variants (p.201)

Question 12

What trait provides Borrelia with antigen variation?

Answer 12

Relapsing fever (p.201)

Question 13

What trait provides Neisseria gonorrhoeae with antigen variation?

Answer 13

Pilus protein (p.201)

Question 14

How do trypanosome parasites express antigen variation?

Answer 14

By undergoing programmed rearrangement (p.201)

Question 15

Name two common mechanisms of antigen variation.

Answer 15

DNA rearrangement, RNA segment reassortment (ex. Influenza major shift) (p.201)