Immune system review

1. Name the two parts of the immune system that we discussed:

___innate and acquired immune systems ____________

2. Identify external nonspecific defenses that effectively prevent pathogens from accessing the
bloodstream inside our body – how do they do their blocking?

Nonspecific defenses include mucus in the nose, acid the stomach, and enzymes in the
mouth. They block as physical barriers that prevent the pathogens from getting into the body
in the first place.

3. Identify the broad internal nonspecific defense that we discussed – what are these cells
called, and what do they do to defend against pathogens that have accessed the bloodstream?
An internal nonspecific defense is phagocytic cells. These cells are white blood cells and they
defend against pathogens that have accessed the bloodstream by engulfing the pathogens and
breaking them down inside.

4. If a particular pathogen evades detection, then the immune system must design a specific
attack. It must first recognize some kind of marker on the surface of the pathogen – called
what? ___antigen___

Name the type of cells that try out 1 specific receptor shape per cell – B cell
Lymphocytes like T cells and B cells
Any mammal naturally produces lots of these cells even when a pathogen is not present in
large amounts (apparently this is worth the energy cost of constantly producing new cells to
promote survival against infections that might otherwise threaten health).

If a person is sick with a pathogen for the first time (could be virus, bacteria, fungus, worm,
etc.), explain how a signaling pathway results in an army of cells that all have the correct
receptor shape to bind to the pathogen.
When the innate immune system cannot fight off the pathogens, the acquired immune system
is activated. An antigen presenting cell goes and engulfs a pathogen and puts its antigens on
the surface of the cell. Then, the APC will go looking for a T-cell or B-cell that has receptors
in the same shape as the antigen. If the APC finds one, cell signaling occurs between the
receptors and the antigen and the cell is activated. Once the cell is activated, it undergoes
mitosis to create more cells to fight off the pathogen specifically and remembers the
pathogen so it can be defeated quickly if it comes again.

5. Identify the three types of specific cells, and what they do to help fight off a specific
pathogen (to be clear, all three types must go through the process discussed in #4 above).
 a) B-cells: release antibodies that specific to the pathogens and specifically target the
pathogens

b) Natural Killer Cells: directly attacks cells like cancer cells

c) T-cells: target pathogen specifically to fight it off and creates memory cells to
remember the pathogens

6. That pathogen returns a few weeks later – explain why the body can generate an army of
responding attacker cells so much more quickly than the first time (so much more quickly
that you probably will not get sick the second time).
Memory cells are created with the mitosis of the B-cell or T-cell and the memory cells remember
the pathogen so mitosis of the plasma B-cell or active T-cell can be created faster since it is
already familiar with the process. Since the reaction is so fast, the pathogens are fought off
before the pathogen’s effects are in place so the body does not get sick.