Immune System: T Cells, Allergies, Cancer, Immunity, Immune Response

10/28/10

Claire

Disease and the Immune System

After taking a quiz and finish the spice lab we went over these notes:

Supresser T Cells: get concentrations back to normal after the infection goes away

Cytotoxic T Cells: help protect body fro own cells if they become cancerous

-sometimes cancer is hard to fight because our bodies don't reconize our own cells as cancerous

Immune system has a "memory"

-our bodies remember the antigens we have encountered

-if we encounter the same antigen again, our immune system destroys them before symptoms occur

Immunity: resistance to specific invader

-can be done actively or passively

Active Immunity: body produces antibodies in its own defense

-if antibodies are produced, so are memory cells

2 ways:

-having disease

-vaccination: injection of weakened variant of disease-carrying microbe or one of it's components

Passive Immunity: receiving pre-made antibodies

-through mother's blood stream (baby's can't produce antibodies)

-through shot containing antibodies produced by another organism

Ex: Tetnus shot- gives you antibodies, not the pathogen because the pathogen is too dangerous and harmful, can get sick from it.

-have to get these shots more than once, no memory cells are produced

Primary Immune Response:

- first exposure of lymphocytes to an antigen

-takes days to produce antibodies-through colonal selection

-memory cells produced to remember antigen

-these are located in lymph nodes and live for decades

Secondary Immune Response:

-occurs when the same antigen is encountered again

-memory cells multiply leading to production of antibodies

-more effective than primary immune response

-person is symptom free

-could offer lifelong immunity

You can get infected by the same pathogen twice, but only get sick from it the first time because memory cells are produced

Immune Disorders: consequence of malfunctioning immune system

-allergies: sensitivity to antigens in environment

-how they are developed: 1st exposure to allergen cause sensitization, following exposures to same allergen produce symptoms

-Autoimmune Disorder: immune system fights its own molecules-vey bad

-Immunodeficiency Disease: body lacks part(s) of immune system

Next Scribe: Sally Y