Immunity

And Vaccines/ Monoclonal Antibodies

 Most people have measles only once. In
most cases,
it is very unlikely that anyone surviving the
disease will have it again. They are
immune.
 Defence against disease
EXTERNAL DEFENCE INTERNAL DEFENCE
SYSTEM SYSTEM
• the epithelia that cover the airways are
an effective barrier to the entry of
pathogens
• hydrochloric acid in the stomach kills
many bacteria that we ingest with our
food and drink
• blood clotting is a defence mechanism
that stops the loss of blood and
prevents the entry of pathogens
through wounds in the skin.
 White blood cells are part of the
immune system and they recognise
pathogens by the distinctive, large
molecules that cover their surfaces,
such as proteins, glycoproteins,
lipids and polysaccharides, and the
waste materials which some
pathogens produce.
 Antigen
is a substance that
is foreign to the
body and
stimulates an
immune response.
There are two types of white blood cell,
namely phagocytes and lymphocytes.
 Phagocytes
• Phagocytes are produced throughout life in
the bone marrow.

• They are stored there before being

distributed around the body in the blood.

• They are scavengers, removing any dead

cells as well as invasive microorganisms.
 Neutrophil
• are a kind of phagocyte and form about
60% of the white cells in the blood.

• They travel throughout the body, often

leaving the blood by squeezing through the
walls of capillaries to ‘patrol’ the tissues.

• During an infection, neutrophils are released

in large numbers from their stores, but they
are short-lived cells.
 Macrophage
• Macrophages are also phagocytes but are larger than
neutrophils and tend to be found in organs such as the lungs,
liver, spleen, kidney and lymph nodes, rather than remaining
in the blood.

• After they are made in the bone marrow, macrophages travel

in the blood as monocytes, which develop into
macrophages once they leave the blood and settle in the
organs, removing any foreign matter found there.

• Macrophages are long-lived cells and play a crucial role in

initiating immune responses, since they do not destroy
pathogens completely, but cut them up to display antigens
that can be recognised by lymphocytes.
 Phagocytosis
If pathogens invade the body and cause an infection, some of the cells
under attack respond by releasing chemicals such as histamine.

These, with any chemicals released by the pathogens themselves,

attract passing neutrophils to the site. (This movement towards a
chemical stimulus is called chemotaxis.)
The neutrophils destroy the pathogens by phagocytosis. The neutrophils move
towards the pathogens, which may be clustered together and covered in
antibodies.

The antibodies further stimulate the neutrophils to attack the pathogens. This is
because neutrophils have receptor proteins on their surfaces that recognise
antibody molecules and attach to them.

When the neutrophil attaches to the pathogen, the neutrophil’s cell surface
membrane engulfs the pathogen, and traps it within a phagocytic vacuole in a
process called endocytosis.
Digestive enzymes are secreted
into the phagocytic vacuole, so
destroying the pathogen.

Neutrophils have a short life:

after killing and digesting some
pathogens, they die. Dead
neutrophils often collect at a site
of infection to form pus.
 Lymphocytes
• Lymphocytes are a second type of
white blood cell.

• They play an important role in the

immune response.

• Lymphocytes are smaller than

phagocytes. They have a large
nucleus that fills most of the cell.
B- Lymphocytes
• B cells remain in the bone marrow until
they are mature and then spread
throughout the body, concentrating in
lymph nodes and the spleen.

• As each B cell matures, it gains the ability

to make just one type of antibody
molecule.
B- Lymphocytes
• Each cell then divides to give a small
number of cells that are able to
make the same type of antibody.

• Each small group of identical cells is

called a clone. At this stage, the
antibody molecules do not leave the
B cell but remain in the cell surface
membrane.
Here, part of each antibody forms
a glycoprotein receptor, which can
combine specifically with one type
of antigen.

If that antigen enters the body,

there will be some mature B cells
with cell surface receptors that will
recognise it (Figure 11.5).
 Other B cells become
memory cells. These cells
remain circulating in the
body for a long time. If the
same antigen is
reintroduced a few weeks
or months after the first
infection, memory cells
divide rapidly and
develop into plasma cells
and more memory cells.
 • Memory cells are the basis of immunological memory; they
last for many years, often a lifetime.

• This explains why someone is very unlikely to catch measles

twice. There is only one strain of the virus that causes measles,
and each time it infects the body there is a fast secondary
response.

• However, we do suffer repeated infections of the common cold

and influenza, because there are many different and new
strains of the viruses that cause these diseases, each one having
different antigens.
 Antibody
is a glycoprotein
(immunoglobulin) made by
plasma cells derived from B-
lymphocytes, secreted in
response to an antigen; the
variable region of the antibody
molecule is complementary in
shape to its specific antigen.
T - Lymphocytes
• Mature T cells have specific cell surface
receptors called T cell receptors.

• T cell receptors have a structure similar

to that of antibodies, and they are each
specific to one antigen.

• T cells are activated when they

encounter this antigen on another cell of
the host (that is, on the person’s own
cells).
 The display of antigens on the surface of cells in this way is known as antigen
presentation. Those T cells that have receptors complementary to the antigen
respond by dividing by mitosis to increase the number of cells. T cells go through
the same stages of clonal selection and clonal expansion as clones of B cells.
cell with
 There are two main types of T cell:
■■  helper T cells
■■  killer T cells (or cytotoxic T cells)

• When helper T cells are activated, they release hormone- like cytokines that stimulate
appropriate B cells to divide, develop into plasma cells and secrete antibodies. Some T helper
cells secrete cytokines that stimulate macrophages to carry out phagocytosis more
vigorously.

• Killer T cells search the body for cells that have become invaded by pathogens and are
displaying foreign antigens from the pathogens on their cell surface membranes.

• Killer T cells recognise the antigens, attach themselves to the surface of infected cells, and
secrete toxic substances such as hydrogen peroxide, killing the body cells and the pathogens
inside.
 Immunity

Active immunity occurs during an infection because

the person makes their own antibodies.

This happens when the lymphocytes are activated by

antigens on the surface of pathogens that have invaded the
body. As this activation occurs naturally during an infection
it is called natural active immunity.
 Immunity

Artificial active immunity

occurs either by injecting antigens into
the body or – for certain diseases such
as polio – taking them by mouth
In both forms of active immunity, it takes time
for sufficient numbers of B and T cells to be
produced to give an effective defence.

If a person becomes infected with a potentially

fatal disease such as tetanus, a more immediate
defence than that provided by active immunity is
needed for survival.

Tetanus kills quickly, before the body’s natural

primary response can take place. So people who
have a wound that may be infected with the
bacterium that causes tetanus are given an
injection of antitoxin.
• This is a preparation of human antibodies against the tetanus toxin.
The antibodies are collected from blood donors who have recently
been vaccinated against tetanus.

• Antitoxin provides immediate protection, but this is only

temporary as the antibodies are not produced by the body’s own B
cells and are therefore regarded as foreign themselves.
 Passive immunity

immunity gained without an immune

response; antibodies are injected
(artificial) or pass from mother to child
across the placenta or in breast milk
(natural)
 Colostrum
• thick yellowish fluid produced by a mother’s breasts for the first four or
five days after birth, contains a type of antibody known as IgA.

• Some of these antibodies remain on the surface of the infant’s gut wall, while
others pass into the blood undigested.

• IgA acts in the gut to prevent the growth of bacteria and viruses and also
circulates in the blood.

• This is natural passive immunity.