Immunity

Cells of the immune system

Phagocytes are originated from the bone marrow.
There are two types: Macrophages and Neutrophils.
Macrophages: Travel in the blood as monocytes,
then leave the blood to settle in body organs as
macrophages to remove any foreign.
Neutrophils: travel in the blood and leave the blood
through the walls of the capillaries. They destroy
pathogens by phagocytosis. The neutrophil engulfs
the pathogen and traps it within the phagocytic
vacuole by endocytosis. Digestive enzymes secreted
by lysosomes into the phagocytic vacuole to destroy
the pathogen.
 Lymphocytes
There are two types of lymphocytes. B-lymphocytes and T-
lymphocytes.
T-lymphocytes: origin is the bone marrow where they leave
and mature in the thymus producing T cell receptors in cell
surface membrane. They leave the thymus and circulate in
the blood. T cells are activated when they encounter an
antigen. There are two types of T-lymphocytes:
Helper t cells. release hormone cytokines that: stimulate b
cells to divide into plasma cells and memory cells or
stimulate macrophages to carry out phagocytosis vigorously
or stimulate killer t cells to divide and differentiate.
Killer t cells. Recognize the antigens and attach themselves
to surfaces of infected cells, secreting toxic substances and
destroying the infected cell.
 B-lymphocytes: origin is the bone
marrow, and remain there till they mature
and produce antibody receptors. B cells
divides into Plasma cells and memory
cells.
Plasma cells produce antibodies that are
secreted into the blood that combine to
antigens.
Memory cells divide rapidly into plasma
cells if the same antigen is introduced
into the body in secondary response.
 Immune response
It is the complex series of responses
of the body to the entry of a foreign
antigen, it involves the activity of
lymphocytes and phagocytes. An
immune response is stimulated if a
non-self substance is recognized as
foreign. It is not stimulated in the
case of self substance because it is
not recognized as foreign as the body
has already produced it.
The significance of white blood cell count in humans with infectious diseases
and leukemia

The number of neutrophils in the blood increases

during bacterial infections and whenever tissues
become inflamed and die.
The number of lymphocytes in the blood
increases in viral infections and in TB.
Leukemia is the cancer of the stem cells that
divide to form differentiated white blood cells.
The cancer results in uncontrolled cell division of
these stem cells which fill up the bone marrow
and flow into the blood and into the lymphatic
system.
There are two types of leukemia: Myeloid
leukemia and Lymphoblastic leukemia.
 The role of memory cells in long term
immunity
During primary response, the concentration on
antibodies are low because there are very few B cells
that are specific to the antigen.
The secondary response is faster because there is
many memory cells which divide and differentiate
into plasma cells, more antibodies are produced.
Question: Why if someone catches measles once he
is unlikely to catch it twice but the common cold can
be catched many times in a lifetime?
Answer: Measles has only on strain of virus and each
time it infects the body there is a fast secondary
response. While in the case of common cold there are
many different strains of the viruses each having
different antigen.
 Autoimmune disease
The immune system sometimes fails to distinguish between self and
non-self.
The immune system attacks one or more self antigens usually
proteins.
The t cells have t cell receptors that are complementary to self
antigens.
This starts an attack between antibodies and killer t cells against parts
of the body.
An example is Myasthenia gravis, is an autoimmune disease between
nerve cells and skeletal muscle cells. Basically what happens is that
helper t cells in muscle tissue stimulate production of b cells that
divide into plasma cells that secrete antibodies, these antibodies bind
to the receptor proteins on cell surface membrane of muscle cell.
Which in normal case a cell signaling molecule binds to the protein
allowing sodium ions to move through the membranes, this results in
muscle contraction. Since in MG this does not take place, the muscle
tissue starts to break and one of the symptoms is muscle weakness.
 Antibodies
Variable region: Antigen binding site, to
bind to antigen.
Hinge region: gives flexibility in binding
to antigen.
Heavy polypeptide chain: binds to
phagocytes.
Disulphide bonds: to link chains
together
Light and heavy chains: form variable
region
 Monoclonal Antibodies
Problem: B cells that divide by mitosis do not
produce antibodies. Plasma Cells that secrete
antibodies do not divide.
Solution:
Plasma cells producing a particular antibody fuse
with cancer cells(divide uncontrollably by
mitosis).
The resulting cell made by this fusion is known
as a hybridoma cell.
The hybridoma cells divide by mitosis and
secrete mitosis.
Use of monoclonal antibodies in diagnosis
of diseases and treatment of diseases
In diagnosis: locate the position of blood
clots in person having deep vein
thrombosis.
Locate cancer cells
Used to identify the exact strain of a virus
or bacterium that is causing an infection
Blood typing and Tissue typing
In treatment: modifying immune
responses. The monoclonal antibodies
have to humanized after taken from a
 Explain how vaccination can control
disease
A vaccination is a preparation containing
antigens which is used to stimulate an
immune response artificially. Effective
vaccines are the ones that contain live
microorganisms, because they can
replicate inside the body while the less
effective ones are the ones that contain
dead viruses or bacteria.
 Active and passive
immunity
Active: immunity developed after
contacting pathogens in the body.
Passive: immunity provided by
antibodies provided from outside the
body.
Natural: immunity gained by being
infected or receiving antibodies from
the mother.
Artificial: immunity gained by
vaccination or injecting antibodies.
 Why vaccination programmes only
eradicated small pox?
The variola virus was stable.
Made from a live vaccine. Very
effective
The vaccine could be kept at high
temperatures for long.
Infected people were easy to identify
The virus did not infect animals