Download The Immune System - Friedman

The Immune
System
A simple introduction to the variety of
mechanisms used by our bodies to
combat disease
By Margi Friedman
Why are we interested?
 Has anyone in the room ever experienced
an illness?
 What is an immune system?
 What impact does the past study of
immunology have on us today?
 What possible outcomes could arise from
further study of the immune system?
Immune System Vocabulary
 Immune System
•Pathogens
 Immunity
•Macrophage
 Innate (non-specific) Immunity
•Phagocytosis
 Adaptive (specific) Immunity
•Lymphocytosis
 Antigens
•Lymphocyte
 Humoral Immune Response
•B Lymphocyte
 Cell mediated Immune
•T Lymphocyte
response
•Antibodies
Mechanisms of Defense
Non-specific Responses:
The innate immunity that we are born with. Includes the
skin, mucous membranes, tears, saliva, and complement
system responsible for inflammation & histamine
response.
Specific Responses:
The immunity we acquire through exposure to antigens.
Immunity is acquired through the Humeral response &
Cell-mediated response .
Non-specific Responses
Non Specific Response
Compliment System
Inflammatory
Response
Complement
Proteins
Imbed In
Plasma
Membrane of
Attacker
Surface of
attacker
Tagged for
Phagocytosis
• Increases Blood flow
to the area which
strengthens immune
response.
• Salt enters cell of
attacker-water
follows-cell
bursts=attacker
killed.
• Phagocytes eat
attacker cells.
Non-Specific Response
Mast Cells Activated
 http://www.sumanasinc.com/webcontent/animations/con
tent/inflammatory.html
Specific (Acquired) Response
Humoral and Cell Mediated
Human +
Antigen
Cell mediated
Immune
Response
T-lyphocytes=
T Helper cell
activity
T-lyphocytes=
Cytotoxic T
cell activity
Humoral
Immune
Response
B-lyphocytes=
antibody
activity
How are we doing so far?
Share of the differences between specific and
non-specific immunity?
How many people in the class have had an
immunization?
How does vaccination work?
An assessment of what you know is a click away.
Click on the document on the bottom right to open
an assessment of what we’ve learned so far.
The Humoral response creates
Antibodies
So, how do antibodies work?
B-lyphocytes interact with antigens to trigger the
production of Antibody-secreting plasma cells.
B-lyphocyte
+
Antigen
Antibodysecreting
plasma cell
Antigen
elimination
Pathogen/Antigen
 A pathogen is the microorganism capable of producing
disease
 An antigen is the protein on the surface of a pathogen that
our bodies recognize as a foreign substance & triggers our
immune system to respond.
There are two main classifications
of pathogens that we will look at:
Bacteria & Viruses
How vaccination works
 The immune system is exposed to an antigen in a form
that it can easily combat.
 This exposure triggers the Humoral response and activates
B-Lymphocytes to begin a process that results in antibody
production and memory of the antigen exposure.
 A cellular memory is created so the body can quickly
respond with huge amounts of antibody should that
antigen show up again.
Do you feel vaccination should be
a requirement for everyone?
When the Immune System isn’t
enough
 Medical treatment options exist as a result of years of
research and development into our immune systems.
 What are some of the effective treatments you’ve heard of
in regards to various diseases?
 Do you think someone with a compromised immune
system, or an immune system that doesn’t operate very
well, should receive vaccinations?
What about people with
compromised immune systems?
 People with immune systems that are
compromised (for example a person with
AIDS), are not able to generate an effective
response because of the fact their Blymphocyte cells, or T-lymphocyte cells are
either absent or ineffective.
So much more to Immunology!
 This is a very brief introduction to how
our immune systems work.
 Next up- Textbook reading
 You get to do a project, stay tuned for
more information!
References
 Alcano, Edward. Biology Coloring Book. New York: Random
House. 1998. Print
 Mackessy, Carol. Single Subject Test Preparation
Biology/Life Science. Prepared for Orange County Dept. of
Education. Study guide in Print
 http://crohn.ie/archive/primer/immunsys.htm
 http://library.thinkquest.org/26360/immunevocab.html
 http://nature.com
References continued
 http://Sumanasinc.com/webcontent/animations/biology.h
tml
 http://uhaweb.hartford.edu/BUGL/immune.htm