hCMB2004 Flashcards
what are the sources of infection
- pathogens - organisms that cause disease
- bacteria
- viruses
- fungi
- parasites e.g. worms and protozoa
what are the characteristics of an effective immune system
- be able to recognise and respond to any invading organism
- not over react to benign or self
- be able to direct different effector mechanisms against different pathogens
what is specific/adaptive immunity
- is induced by exposure to a particular infection
- shows a high degree of specificity
- exhibits memory
what are the features of specific immunity
- mediated by lymphocytes (B/T cells)
- clonal distributed receptors
- large repertoire:low frequency of cells specific for antigen
- response takes time to develop
- memory cells produced
what is the clonal selection theory
- removal of potentially reactive immature lymphocytes by clonal deletions
- pool of mature naive lymphocytes
- proliferation and differentiation of activated specific lymphocytes to form a clone of effector cells
what are the different types of lymphocyte receptors for antigen
- BCR expressed by B lymphocytes
- TCR expressed by T lymphocytes
what are BCRs
- membrane form of Ig binds free antigen
- is subsequently secreted when B cell is activated now known as antibody
what are TCRs
- membrane form only
- recognises peptide fragments of antigen bound to MHC expressed by APC
what is the function of antibodies
- importance shown in cases where absent
- infection with encapsulated bacteria
- activation of complement
- activation of effect cells
consequences of activation of complement
- opsonisation
- classical pathway activation and MAC
consequences of activation of effector cells
- cells that express FcR (receptor that binds Fc region of antibody)
what is the structure of antibodies
- paired variable regions (from heavy and light chains) from 2 identical antigen- binding sites
- constant regions are responsible for antibody structure and interacting with other molecules and cells of innate system –> antibody effector functions
basic structure of antibodies
- immunologlobin
- basic 4-chain structure
- 2 identical heavy and light chains, held together by covalent/non-covalent bonds
- 2 types of L chain (gamma and kappa)
what makes up antigen binding sites
- Vh
Vl
what are the 5 classes of antibodies
- IgM
- D
- A
- G
- E
what makes up the different isotopes
- different isotopes are determined by the heavy chain
- isotopes differ in their structure and functions
what are antibody domains
- analysis of amino acid sequences of H and L chains reveals homology regions
- L chain - 2 domains
- H chain - 4 or 5 domains
- each domain comprises two beta sheets
- linked by a disulphide bridge
what’s included in the immunoglobulin superfamily
- TCR
- MHC class I and II
- CD4, CD8, CD80, CD96, CTLA-4, KIR, IL-6R
how to antigens interact with antibodies
- hypervariable regions (3 in Vh and Vl
- HV1-3
- 6 hypervariable loops - antigen binding site
- complementary-determining regions
- antigen binds to aa in CDRs
- size/shape of antigen affects binding
how are antigens recognised
- epitopes recognised by antibodies may be continuous or conformations
- antibody and antigen form non-covalent interactions
- CDRs present in antibody V regions determine the specificity and the affinity of an antibody for antigen
what are the functions of TCR
- doesn’t bind free antigen
- binds/recognises processed antigen
- presented in the cleft/binding groove of MHC class I or class II molecules
what are MHCs
- major histocompatibility complex
- different expression patterns
- present peptides for different sources
- first identified fur to role in transplant rejection
what are MHC class i
- expressed on all nucleated cells
- heterodimer - alpha and beta2 chains
what are the 3 different MHC class I molecules
- HLA-A
- HLA-B
- HLA-C