Bacterial Defense System Flashcards
What are the features of the adaptive immune response?
Specificity, Memory, and Tolerance
Explain specificity
Immune cells recognize and react with individual molecules (antigens) via direct molecular interactions
Explain the memory feature of the adaptive immune response
The immune response to a specific molecule is faster and stronger upon subsequent exposure because the initial antigen exposure induced growth and division of antigen-reactive cells, resulting in multiple copies of antigen-reactive cells.
Explain the tolerance feature of the adaptive immune response
immune cells are not able to react with self antigen. Self-reactive clones are destroyed during development of the immune response.
What is an antigen?
An antigen is anything the immune system recognizes as foreign. Reacts with an epitope ( short group or sequence of 4-6 amino acids).
What are antibodies?
Protein complexes that play a central role in both the specific and nonspecific immune system.
-produced by B-cells
-recognize specific regions of molecules called epitopes (the very tips)
What are the two different ways an antibody can bind to an antigen?
-Linear Sequence Determinants: A sequence of amino acids
-conformational Determinants: a group of amino acids that are close together when the antigen is folded.
What are lymphocytes and what two forms do they come in?
-Lymphocytes are antigen-specific leukocytes
-T-cells that mature in the thymus
-B-cells that mature in the bone marrow
What are B-cells?
-B is for bone marrow
-responsible for antigen interactions, antibody production, and immune memory (reminds what microbe is dangerous)
-have immunoglobulin (Ig0 molecules that are copies of the type of antibody the B-cell will produce and are on the surface
What happens to the B-cell after it is exposed to antigens?
They are split into memory cells or plasma cells
-Memory cells are long lived and can remain in the cortex for years
-plasma cells are differentiated antibody producing cells that only live for a few days (located in the medulla of the lymph node)
What are T-cells?
-T-cells are produced in the thymus
What are T-cell receptors (TCRs)
All T-cells have antigen-specific T-cell receptors on their surface and interact specifically with antigen.
Note: The antigen is always presented in processed form to the TCR by another cell-the aptly named antigen presenting cell or APC
What are the two types of APCs
-The amateurs: infected cells that present internally made foreign proteins (react for survival)
-The professionals (immune cells): phagocytes cells (macrophages) that ingest foreign particles and present proteolyses components on cell membrane (do it on purpose)
What are the two types of T-cells
-CD4 positive T helper cells
-CD8 positive cytotoxic T-cells
What are cytotoxic T cells?
CD8 positive cytotoxic T cells (CTLs) kill antigen bearing cells directly through interaction between a cell surface antigen on the target cell and the TCR (look at slide 28 to see how it works)