Immunology Ch. 1

what is immunology?

the study of the natural or artificial resistance to infectious diseases or toxins

What is an epitope?

A small part of an antigen to which an antibody can bind

The antigen (epitope) to which an antibody can bind is sometimes called the ____ antigen.

cognate

What are the 2 functions of immunology?

1. distinguish self from non-self

2. to identify foreign bodies (microorganisms, toxins, or materials) and to eliminate those antigens

when does the body start to recognize its own cells and non-self?

when we are a fetus

Cells that can interact with our own antigens are what?

deleted or turned off

When the body losses tolerance for its own antigens what happens?

results in autoimmune disease

What is an example of autoimmune disease?

Type 1 diabetes happens when the body’s immune system mistakenly recognizes the beta cells in the pancreas as a foreign antigen. Consequently, our own immune system destroys those beta cells and leaves us without a way to regulate blood glucose.

What are the 2 divisions of the immune system that overlap and helps eliminate foreign materials?

1. innate response

2. adaptive response

What is the innate response?

fast acting response that eliminates foreign materials and mostly consists of neutrophils and macrophages that do not recognize exactly what they are eliminating but do it anyway

What is the adaptive response?

slow response to antigens (mostly consisting of lymphocytes) but more specific reactive antibodies and lymphocytes

What is the innate response composed of?

1. physical barriers: skin & organ mucosal layers

2. Chemical barriers: stomach acid & lysozymes in the eye

3. Innate response: initial inflammatory response made up of mast cells, neutrophils, macrophages, & natural killer cells

True or false: The innate response does involve antigen stimulated lymphocytes and therefore there did have to be a prior immunizing event.

False

How does an innate response function?

This response happens immediately after exposure to irritants or offending substance. For example, dust or sand in eyes or clothing rubbing on skin. This response does not involve antibodies.

How does the adaptive response work?

It is either cell mediated (T lymphcytes) or humoral (B lymphocytes) which creates a specialized and learned immune response through antibodies and CD4+ and CD8+ cells. This may take a couple of days to elitcit a response and also known as the acquired immune system.

How can the adaptive response occur immediately?

1. there had to have been previous exposure to the offending substance (antigen) to prime the adaptive immune response.

2. antibodies and lymphocytes are now responding to the specific substance

3. repeated exposure to an irritant can result in adaptive immune response arising from an innate response to an irritant- now antibodies and antigen specific lymphocytes are involved. Now the individual is allergic.

lymphocytes and antibodies fall in innate or adaptive?

Adaptive

do neutrophils and macrophages fall in adaptive or innate response?

innate response

What response do CD4+ and CD8+ fall under? (adaptive, but what else?)

Cell mediated response: T lymphocytes

What response do the antibodies fall under? (adaptive, but what else?)

Humural response: B lymphocytes

What are some Antigen presenting cells that capture foreign antigens and present them to lymphocytes to mount an immune responce?

Dendritic cells, macrophages, and follicular dendritic cells.

What are some effector cells that kill antigens?

T lymphocytes (T helper and cytotoxic T cells), macrophages & monocytes, and granulocytes (neutrophils, basophils, & eosinophils).

____ will release biochemicals that attract other immune cells and will phagocytize the foreign invader.

Neutrophils

when are basophils triggered to release heparin and histamine?

when IgE antibodies on the surface of the cell contact a specific antigen

Secretions like tears and saliva contain the enzyme _____ that helps digest and kill microorganisms.

lysozyme

Receptors and ligands are like ____?

They are like lock and key. Receptors are at the proteins that protude to the outside of a cell. These receptors bind to specifically shaped molecules (ligands) in the environment.

What are the lymphocytes that does not recognize foreign antigens but destroys any cell or material coated with antibodies or inflammatory biochemicals?

Natural killer cells (part of the innate immune response)

____ cells have long arms of cytoplasm to capture and present antigens to T lymphocytes.

Dendritic cells

Macrophages are ___ cells but on ____.

Monocytes; tissues

_____ found in lymph nodes and will present antigens to B cells that later produce antibodies.

Follicular dendritic cells

What fights bacterial infections?

Neutrophils

What fights parasite infections and are involved in the allergic reaction?

Eosinophils

What type of cell is involved in the allergic reaction when their granules release histamine and heparin?

Basophils

_____ are transmembrane protein molecules that protude to outside of a cell. They can bind or attach to specifically shaped molecules (_____) in the environment.

Receptors; ligands

If a microbe enters the body, standard pathogen associated molecular patterns (____) on the bacteria (ligands) are recognized by the receptors (___) on the immune cells (monocytes) which call for additional cells (neutrophils) to arrive at the site of the infection.

PAMPs; PRRs

one type of ____ is produced by cells that are infected with a virus. ____ is then secreted from the infected cell into the neighboring cells. The adjacent cell then produces anti-viral proteins that prevent viral replication with the information given from the _____.

interferon (IFN)

The humoral immunity is stimulated by a specific antigen. Therefore, the ___ cell will produce thousands of “Y” shaped proteins (antibodies).

plasma

Active immunity

The body actively making the antibody after being exposed to an infection or from a vaccine.

Passive immunity

a person receives an antibody to an antigen from someone or something else. For example, injection or from mom.

Pathogen associated molecular patterns (PAMPs)

common molecular structures present on a large number of bacterial species that the innate immune system can recognize as foreign

Pattern recognition receptors (PRRs)

The innate immune cells (macrophages) can identify microbes that have PAMPs (ligands) on their surface through receptors on the surface of the immune cells called pattern recognition receptors

What are the three general PRRs?

Secreted PRRs, phagocytosis receptors, and toll-like receptors (transmembrane proteins that protude to outside the immune cells)