B Cells and Antibodies Exam 1 Flashcards Preview

Immunology > B Cells and Antibodies Exam 1 > Flashcards

Flashcards in B Cells and Antibodies Exam 1 Deck (38)
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1
Q

What cells make antibodies?

A

WBC from bone marrow

2
Q

How many kinds of B cells are there?

A

100 million

3
Q

Y shaped proteins that attach to antigens to help identify and destroy harmful non-self

A

Antibodies (immunoglobins)

4
Q

Something that causes the immune system to create antibodies specifically targeting that something

A

Antigen

5
Q

Antigen that a given B cell’s receptors recognize

A

Cognate antigen

6
Q

Part of the antigen that the antibody recognizes and attaches

A

Epitope

7
Q

Part of the antibody that recognizes and attaches to the epitope

A

Paratope

8
Q

What are two methods to create antibody diversity

A

Modular design

Junctional diversity

9
Q

Antibodies are proteins that are made in these cells

A

B cells

10
Q

In this form of antibody diversity, there are multiple copies of four gene segments that code the antibody’s heavy chain

A

Modular design

11
Q

What are the four genes found on the heavy chain?

A

V D J C

12
Q

A string of gene segments that codes for the constant region

A

Fc region

13
Q

What is the default for making B cell receptors?

A

IgM and IgD

14
Q

Additional DNA bases are added or subtracted when gene segments from modular design are added together

A

Junctional diversity

15
Q

B cells that have never encountered their cognate antigen

A

Naive or virgin B cells

16
Q

B cells that have been activated

A

Experienced B cells

17
Q

What are the two signals needed for B cells to be activated

A

Clustering of B cell receptors

Co-stimulatory signal

18
Q

When a B cell encounters its cognate antigen, what two things bind together?

A

Paratope binds to epitope

19
Q

What is the purpose of complement receptors?

A

Decrease in number of BCRs that need to be clustered to signal the nucleus

20
Q

When a B cell is stimulated by the antigen and a helper T cell

A

T cell dependent co-stimulation

21
Q

Some antigen receptors have repeating patterns and will heavily cluster the BCRs

A

T cell independent co-stimulation

22
Q

Describe the steps of T cell dependent co-stimulation

A

B cell encounter cognate antigen
The cognate antigen is endocytosed
Fragments of the cognate antigen are displayed by MHC II
T cell meets its cognate antigen

23
Q

In T cell independent co-stimulaiton, is the signal dependent on the recognition of the cognate antigen for that B cell?

A

No

24
Q

When signal is sufficient, how long do B cells divide?

A

12 hours per growth and division over the course of a week

25
Q

Most B cells are this cell type

A

Plasma cells (antibody factories)

26
Q

Some B cells become this cell type

A

Memory B cells

27
Q

BCR genes undergo mutation and selection to create greater affinity for its cognate antigen

A

Somatic hypermutation

28
Q

B cell changes the class of antibody it produces

A

Class switching

29
Q

Somatic hypermutation occurs in regions containing what gene segments?

A

V D J

30
Q

How long does a plasma cell live?

A

Only a few days

Works hard then dies

31
Q

How long do memory B cells last?

A

Greater than 50 years

32
Q

The class of antibody is determined by what region of the heavy chain?

A

Fc or constant region

33
Q

When a naive B cell is first activated, it makes mainly what type of antibodies?

A

IgM

34
Q

This antibody class can pass from mother’s blood to fetus and is the longest lived antibody

A

IgG

35
Q

Most abundant antibody class in the human body

A

IgA

36
Q

What is the structure of IgA?

A

Like two IgGs clipped together

37
Q

This antibody class equals the size of 5 IgGs

A

IgM

38
Q

This antibody class activates the complement system

A

IgM