Exam 1: Immune Responses Flashcards
(36 cards)
What is immunity?
a defense mechanism which provides protection from infectious disease.
What is tissue injury caused by an immune response to microbes called?
immunopathy
what is the smallest unit (antigenic determinant) to which an AB can be made?
~ 3 to 6 AAs or ~5 to 6 sugar residues
what do t-cell receptors recognize?
linear AA sequences
what are Ags that can stimulate an immune response called?
immunogens
What are haptens?
very small (low molecular weight) molecules that can bind to ABs or TCR, but cannot initiate immune response
What are the components of the Innate immune system?
- Cellular and chemical barriers: skin, mucosal epithelia, antimicrobial molecules. 2. Blood Proteins: Complement, acute phase proteins, cytokines, others. 3. Cells: NK, Phagocytes, dendritic, innate lymphoid cells.
What are the components of adaptive immunity?
- Cellular and chemical barriers: Lymphocytes in epithelia; antibodies secreted at epithelial surfaces 2. blood proteins: antibodies, cytokines 3. B & T Lymphocytes.
T-cell maturation site and end product.
mature in thymus, stimulated by Ag. Give rise to cellular immunity
B-cells maturation site and end product,
Under the influence of bone marrow, give rise to humoral immunity–> production of immunoglbbulins.
what are Cytokines?
are a large group of secreted proteins with diverse structures and functions, which regulate and coordinate many activities of the cells of innate and adaptive immunity.
What is inflammation?
Inflammation is the process of recruitment of leukocytes and plasma proteins from the blood, their accumulation in tissues, and their activation to destroy the microbes
Humoral Immunity
B lymphocytes secrete antibodies that prevent infections and eliminate extracellular microbes.
Cell Mediated Immunity
T Helper lymphocytes activate macrophages to kill phagocytized microbes or Cytotoxic T lymphocytes CTLs directly destroy infected cells.
Active Immunity:
Conferred by a host response to a microbe or microbial Ags and generates immunolgic memory
Passive Immunity
conferred by adoptive transfer of ABs or T lymphocytes specific for the microbe.
What does activation of naive T lymphocytes require?
recognition of peptide-MHC complexes presented on dendritic cells.
B Lymphocytes
recognize soluble Ags and develop into AB-secreting cells
T helper lymphocytes
recognize Ags on the surfaces of APCs and secrete cytokines, which stimulate different mechanisms of immunity and inflammation. (T helper 1 &2 cells)
Regulatory T cells
suppress and prevent immune response (e.g to self antigen)
What are normal blood cell counts?


what is the most abundant population of circulating spherical WBCs? what do they do?
Neutrophils, mediate the earliest phases of inflammatory reactions.
where are neutorophils produced? How is their production stimulated?
Produced in the bone marrow (arise from precursors that also give rise to mononuclear phagocytes).
Production is stimulated by the cytokine Granulocyte Colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF)
Primary function of phagocytes
to ingest and destroy microbes and get rid of damages tissues (scavenger function)