2. INTRODUCTION TO
IMMUNITY
• An immune system is a system of
• biological structures and
• processes within an organism
• that protects against disease.
• In order to function properly, an immune
system must detect a wide variety of
agents, from viruses to parasitic worms,
and distinguish them from the
organism's own healthy tissue.
3. COUNTER ACTION OF THESE
AGENTS
These agents are referred to as
pathogens – an organism or
substance that could cause a disease.
Pathogens can rapidly evolve and
adapt to avoid detection and
destruction by the immune system.
As a result, multiple defence
mechanisms have also evolved to
recognize and neutralize
pathogens.
4. Physical barriers prevent pathogens
such as bacteria and viruses from
entering the organism.
If a pathogen breaches these
barriers, the innate immune
system provides an immediate, but
non-specific response.
Innate immune systems are found in
all plants and animals.
5. INNATE IMMUNE SYSTEMS
Consist of cells and proteins that are
always present and ready to mobilize and
fight microbes at the site of infection.
The main components of the innate immune
system are:
1) physical epithelial barriers,
2) phagocytic leukocytes,
3) dendritic cells,
4) a special type of lymphocyte called a natural
killer (NK) cell, and
5) circulating plasma proteins.
6. If pathogens successfully evade the innate
response, vertebrates possess a second layer of
protection, the acquired immune system,
which is activated by the innate response.
Here, the immune system adapts its response
during an infection to improve its recognition of
the pathogen.
This improved response is then retained after the
pathogen has been eliminated, in the form of an
immunological memory,
and allows the acquired immune system to mount
faster and stronger attacks each time this
pathogen is encountered.
7. Differences in the
components of the immune
system
Innate immune
system
Acquired immune
system
Response is non-
specific
Pathogen and antigen
specific response
Exposure leads to
immediate maximal
response
Lag time between
exposure and maximal
response
Cell-mediated and
humoral
components
Cell-mediated and
humoral components
No immunological
memory
Exposure leads to
immunological
memory
8. 2. INNATE IMMUNITY
Innate immune responses are
active immediately upon
infection and are the same
whether or not the pathogen
has been encountered
previously.
It includes barrier defenses
and internal defenses
9. BARRIER DEFENSE
SYSTEM
Includes:
the skin
Mucus membranes of
digestive-, respiratory- urinary
and reproductive tract
oBody secretions: mucus,
saliva (lysozymes), tears, oil
gland secretions, acid in
stomach, sweat.
10. Mucus membranes
Some cells in mucus
membrane produce
mucus.
Mucus is a viscous
(thickness) fluid that
enhances defences –
trapping microbes and
other foreign particles
11. In the trachea, ciliated
epithelial cells sweep mucus
and the trapped microbes
upwards, helping to prevent
infection of the lungs. mucus
12. Body secretions create an
environment that in
unfavourable for microbes.
Lysozymes in saliva, mucous
secretions, and tears destroy
susceptible bacteria as they
enter the respiratory tract or
openings around eyes.
Acid in stomach kill bacteria
Oils and sweat give human skin
a pH between 3-5, which is acidic
enough to prevent the growth of
microorganisms.
13. INTERNAL DEFENSE
If the barrier defences are
damaged and pathogens do enter
the body of an organism, a second
line of defence will be activated.
This defence system is the
internal defence system and is
more sensitive and includes:
phagocytosis and inflammation.
14. PHAGOCYTOSIS
Process by which certain living
cells called phagocytes ingest or
engulf other cells or particles.
The phagocyte may be a one-
celled organism, such as an
amoeba, or one of the body cells,
such as a leukocyte (white blood
cell).
In higher animals phagocytosis
is chiefly a defensive reaction
against infection and invasion of
the body
15. Different types of phagocytic
cells:
Neutrophils engulf and destroy
microbes
Macrophages are part of the
lymphatic system and are found
throughout the body
Eosinophils discharge destructive
enzymes
Dendritic cells stimulate
development of acquired immunity
19. INFLAMMATORY RESPONSES
When injured or infected by
pathogens, signalling molecules
are released,
One example of a signalling
molecules is histamine – stored in
mast cells.
These molecules trigger the blood
vessels to dilate and become
more permeable
20. This increase local blood supply and
allow more phagocytes and
antimicrobial proteins to enter
tissues
Pus, a fluid rich in white blood cells,
dead microbes, and cell debris,
accumulates at the site of inflammation
Fever is a systemic inflammatory
response triggered by pyrogens
released by macrophages, and toxins
from pathogens
21. MAJOR EVENTS IN A LOCAL
INFLAMMATORY RESPONSE
Activated
macrophages
and mast cells
at the injury site
release
signalling
molecules that
act on nearby
capillaries.
22. The capillaries dilate and
become more
permeable, allowing
fluid containing
antimicrobial peptides
to enter the tissue.
Signaling molecules
released by immune cells
attract additional
phagocytic cells.
24. ACQUIRED IMMUNITY
Acquired immunity is a specific immune
response system through which the
body specifically detects and destroys
particular substances.
This immunity protects us against
infectious diseases as the body has
learnt to recognize foreign substances.
It produces a specific reaction to each
infectious agent, eradicating that agent
from the body.
25. This ability to recognize a pathogen
that has previously elicited an immune
response is the basis for acquiring
immunity to specific diseases.
Hence, we suffer from many diseases,
such as chicken pox, measles etc. only
once.
Thus we can summarize: Acquired
immunity involves 2 main activities:
Destruction of the invaders
Memory of this response
26. WHICH CELLS ARE INVOLVED IN
ACQUIRED IMMUNITY RESPONSE?
Special leucocytes, called the
lymphocytes are released from the
bone marrow.
Some reach the Thymus gland and
mature to form T-lymphocytes (T-
cells)
Some become B-lymphocytes (B-
cells) and is present in the bone
marrow and lymph nodes)
29. ACTIVE ACQUIRED IMMUNITY
Active immunity occurs when a
person has already been exposed
to antigens (from pathogens)
And develops a secondary response
against specific pathogens.
People receive vaccinations to
develop a primary response, and
then if they get the pathogens later,
active immunity helps to fight
them off.
30. Antigens are foreign molecules,
found on the surface of pathogens,
each pathogen has a specific antigen.
The immunity system has countless
amounts of B-Lymphocytes.
Each B-lymphocyte is able to
recognize a specific antigen.
The B-lymphocytes then produce
antibodies that will bond to the
antigens.
This will neutralize or destroy the
pathogen.
31. PASSIVE IMMUNITY
In natural passive immunity, antibodies are
passed from a mother to a child.
Antibodies can be transferred through the
placenta, or transmitted through the colostrum.
The antibodies transmitted through the
colostrum and placenta generally only last for
several weeks, which is long enough to allow
the baby to start to build up its own immune
system and to make its own antibodies.
Artificial passive immunity involves the
introduction of antibodies through means such
as injection - VACCINATIONS.
32. HUMORAL VS. CELL MEDIATED
IMMUNITY
Humoral immunity - deals with infectious
agents in the blood and body tissues
Cell-mediated immunity - deals with body
cells that have been infected.
In general, the humoral system is managed
by B-cells (with help from T-cells).
The cell-mediated system is managed by T-
cells.
33. VACCINATIONS
All vaccinations work by presenting
a foreign antigen to the immune
system in order to evoke an
immune response, but there are
several ways to do this.
We will look at 4 methods:
34. 1. Using an inactivated vaccine
An inactivated vaccine consists of
virus or bacteria that are grown in
culture and then killed .
Although the virus or bacteria particles
are destroyed and cannot replicate, the
virus capsid proteins or bacterial wall
are intact enough to be recognized
and remembered by the immune
system.
This evokes an immune response.
35. 2. Using an attenuated vaccine
In an attenuated vaccine, live virus
or bacteria with very low virulence are
administered.
They will replicate, but locally or very
slowly.
Which causes an immune response to
produce antibodies.
36. 3. Virus-like particle vaccines
Virus-like particle vaccines consist of
viral protein(s) derived from the
structural proteins of a virus.
These proteins can self-assemble into
particles that resemble the virus from
which they were derived but lack viral
nucleic acid, meaning that they are not
infectious.
The human papillomavirus and Hepatitis
B virus vaccines are two virus-like
particle-based vaccines currently in
clinical use.
37. 4. A subunit vaccine
A subunit vaccine presents an
antigen to the immune system
without introducing viral particles.
One method of production involves
isolation of a specific protein from a
virus or bacterium and administering
this by itself.
38. ANTIBIOTICS
Antibiotics are also known as anti-
bacterials.
They are drugs used to treat
infections caused by bacteria.
The first antibiotic was penicillin.
39. How do antibiotics work?
Although there are a number of
different types of antibiotic they all
work in one of two ways:
A bactericidal antibiotic kills the
bacteria. Penicillin is a bactericidal. A
bactericidal usually either interferes with
the formation of the bacterium's cell
wall or its cell contents.
A bacteriostatic stops bacteria from
multiplying.
40. If antibiotics are overused or
used incorrectly there is a
chance that the bacteria will
become resistant - the antibiotic
becomes less effective against
that type of bacterium.
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