Immunology Flashcards
(9 cards)
What is innate immunity and what are its components?
Innate immunity refers to nonspecific defense mechanisms that come into play immediately or within hours of an antigen’s appearance in the body. Includes inflammation, skin barrier, complement protein, macrophages, natural killer cells, cytokines.
What is an APC and which APC is most important for activating T cells?
Antigen-Presenting Cell (APC) Antigen-Presenting Cell Speaker. A type of immune cell that enables a T lymphocyte (T cell) to recognize an antigen and mount an immune response against the antigen. Antigen-presenting cells (APCs) include macrophages, dendritic cells, and B lymphocytes (B cells). The most important is Dendritic cells
Describe innate immunity.
Bodys first line of defense against infection, requires prior exposure to the antigen to work quickly, It eliminates most microbes within a matter minutes to hours.
What type of antibody is most prevalent in the human body, representing 75-80% of all antibodies?
IgG (immuneglobulin G)
What are T cells and how are they activated?
T cells (also called T lymphocytes) are one of the major components of the adaptive immune system. Their roles include directly killing infected host cells, activating other immune cells, producing cytokines and regulating the immune response. Activated by contact with an antigen presented on a major histocompatibility complex.
Which subtypes of helper T cells play a role in promoting inflammation during autoimmune disease?
Th1 and Th17
What are cytokines and what do they do?
Cytokines coordinate immune responses between the cell of innate and adaptive immunity. All immune cells secrete cytokines and all immune cells have receptors for several different cytokines. Cytokines are the target are the most effective drugs developed recently to treat autoimmune diseases.
What are interleukins?
the most numerous and diverse class of cytokines
What are chemokine?
they attract immune cells to a site of infection or injury
