Immunity & Disease Flashcards

1
Q

What kind of things does our immunity protect against?

A
  • bacteria
  • virus
  • fungi
  • toxins
  • cancer
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2
Q

Our immune system distinguishes self from non-self. what are the two main pathways used to do this?

A
  • innate

- adaptive

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3
Q

What is innate immunity?

A
  • defence mechanisms present even before infection or activated
  • works in non-specific way
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4
Q

What are examples of defences in innate immunity?

A
  • skin and mucous membranes
  • phagocytic cells (neutrophils, macrophages)
  • inflammation
  • fever
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5
Q

What are examples of defences in adaptive immunity?

A
  • cell-mediated immunity ( activation of phagocytes, antigen specific cytotoxic T-lymphocytes)
  • humoral immunity
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6
Q

How soon is innate immunity?

A

0-12 hours after infection

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7
Q

how soon is adaptive immunity?

A

12 hours to 7 days

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8
Q

Give 2 examples of non-specific defences.

A
  • intact skin

- mucus and cilia

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9
Q

How does skin act in immunity?

A
  • outer layer of keratin acts as mechanical barrier
  • Dead skin cells constantly slough off - hard for invading bacteria to colonize
  • sweat and oils contain anti-microbial chemicals
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10
Q

How does the mucous membrane act in immunity?

A
  • normal flow of mucus washes bacteria and virus off mucus membrane
  • cilia move bacteria (in respiratory tract)
  • acid in the stomach and vagina
  • enzymes in saliva and eye
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11
Q

How do chemical barriers such as proteins work in immunity?

A

proteins

  • complement - works with other defence mechanisms of the body
  • interferons - inhibit the replication of many viruses
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12
Q

Granulocytes such as neutrophils, eosinophils and basophils help with immunity how?

A
  • remove dead cells and micro-organisms

- attracted by an inflammatory response of damaged cells

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13
Q

Monocytes such as macrophages help with immunity, how?

A
  • in tissue which serves as filters for trapping microbes
  • stimulate specific immune response (antigen - presenting)
  • release protein signals (interleukin 1 and 6 )
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14
Q

what is the difference between the times and macrophages compared to granulocytes?

A
  • macrophages live longer

- normally arrive later than granulocytes

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15
Q

What are the non-specific responses to infection?

A

fever
pain, swelling and redness
acute-phase proteins released from liver

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16
Q

Why do we get fever with infection?

A
  • because most bacteria grow optimally at temp below body temp
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17
Q

why do we get pain, swelling and redness with infection?

A

increasing capillary permeability
promoting blood flow
bring more phagocytic cells

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18
Q

Why is their an acute-phase of proteins released from the liver?

A
  • to bind to bacteria and activate complement proteins
19
Q

specific immunity relies on antigens, what are these?

A

specific substances found in foreign microbes

20
Q

Where are lymphocytes produced?

A

in bone marrow

21
Q

Where do B-cells mature?

A

in bone marrow and then concentrate in lymph nodes and spleen

22
Q

Where do T-cells mature?

A

thymus

23
Q

B and T- cells mature and then circulate in the blood and lymph, why is this important?

A

circulation ensures they come into contact with pathogens and each other

24
Q

What are the functions of B-cells ?

A
  • secrete antibodies (humoral immunity)

- recognise pathogens outside cells

25
Q

What are the functions of T-cells ?

A
  • recognise antigen presented by major histocompatibility comples (class 1 and 2 )
  • directly attack invaders (cytotoxic, CD8, MHC I )
  • recognise pathogens that have entered cells
  • also help B-cells (helper cells, CD4, MHC II)
26
Q

What do cytotoxic T-cells do?

A
  • seek out and destroy any antigens in the system and destroy microbes ‘tagged’ by antibodies
  • some can recognise and destroy cancel cells
27
Q

What do helper T-cells do?

A
  • stimulate B-cells

- Activate cytotoxic cells and macrophages to attack infected cells

28
Q

How do T-cells recognise an invader?

A

by protein marker on cell surface

  • will bring to helper T-cell for ID
  • if helper T-cells recognises as ‘not-self’ it will launch immune response
29
Q

What happens to helper T-cells in HIV?

A

destroys helper T cells

30
Q

How do helper T-cells signal an immune response?

A

Helper T-cells (CD4) stimulated by antigen

- cytokines to stimulate B cell division

31
Q

What do B-cells produce?

A
  • antibodies
  • glycoproteins
  • igG, IgM, IgA, IgE, IgD
32
Q

How do B-cells act in immune response?

A
  • opsonisation, bind and block (agglutinate), stimulate complement
  • bind to antigen - plasma cells- more antibody
  • or become memory cells
33
Q

B-cells can become memory cells, what are these?

A

cells that remain ready to divide rapidly if an invasion occurs again

34
Q

What may make a person have immune deficiencies?

A
  • chemotheraphy/drugs
  • HIV
  • splenectomy
  • bone marrow dysfunction
35
Q

What may occur if a persona immune system is hyperactive ?

A
  • allergy (hypersensitivity)
  • auto-immune
  • overreaction to pathogen
36
Q

What does HIV infect?

A

CD4 and T cells

37
Q

what are the stages of progression in HIV ?

A
  • infection
  • latency
  • AIDS
38
Q

What are examples of causes of secondary immunodeficiency?

A
  • malnutrition
  • burns
  • uremia
  • diabetes mellitus
  • immunotoxic meds
  • self-medication of recreational drugs and alcohol
  • AIDS
39
Q

Hypersensitivity is excessive immune reaction against harmless antigens. What are examples of these?

A

asthma
rhinitis (hay fever)
allergies ( peanut)

40
Q

What is a conditional example of over reaction to pathogen ?

A

Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome

41
Q

What happens in autoimmunity?

A

failure of an organism in recognising its own parts as ‘self’
leading to an immune response against its own cells and tissues

42
Q

What are examples of autoimmune diseases?

A

type 1 diabetes mellitus
coeliac disease
multiple sclerosis
Hashimotos thyroiditis

43
Q

How can we manipulate our immune system ?

A

suppress immune system - organ transplant (increased susceptibility to infection)
Immunotheraphy for cancer
vaccination

44
Q

vaccinations is to stimulate own immune system to elicit adaptive immune response, prevent further infection…what does this rely on ?

A

success depends on herd immunity