- Immunity is the protection against diseases provided by the body’s internal defence or

immunity system

11.1 Defence against disease

External Defence
- Epithelia that cover the airways
- Hydrochloric acid in the stomach
- Blood clotting

Internal defence system

> IMMUNE SYSTEM: the bodies internal defence system

- White blood cells Recognise distinctive large molecules (receptors/antigens) that cover
the pathogens surface
- Made of glycoproteins, glycolipids and polysaccharides, and the toxic waste materials
produced by the pathogens

>ANTIGEN: a substance that is foreign to the body and stimulates an immune response

- Phagocytes and lymphocytes

>SELF: refers to substances produced by the body that the immune system does not recognize
as foreign, so do not stimulate an immune response

>NON-SELF: refers to any substance or ell that is recognised by the immune system as being
foreign will stimulate an immune response

>ANTIBODIES: a glycoprotein (immunoglobulin) made by specialised lymphocytes in response

to the presence of a specific antigen; each type of antibody molecule has a shape
complementary to its specific antigen

Ex: If blood of type A is given to someone who has blood type of B during a transfusion, the
recipient’s immune system will recognise the blood cells as foreign and start to produce
antibodies
- The antigen on the blood cells of type A are recognised by the immune system as non-
self
- The recipient’s immune system recognises the antigens of the red blood cells of type B
as self and no antibodies are produced

>IMMUNE RESPONSE: the complex series of responses of the body to the entry of a foreign
antigen; it involves the activity of lymphocytes and phagocytes
11.2 Cells of the immune system
- The cells of the immune system are produced in the bone marrow
- Two groups of cells involved in defense
- phagocytes (neutrophils and macrophages)
- lymphocytes

Phagocytes
- Produced throughout life in the bone marrow, stored before being distributed around the
body
- They remove any dead cells as well as any invasive organisms

- Neutrophils- 60% of white blood cells

- Often squeeze through the walls of of capillaries to move through tissues engulfing any
pathogens they find
- Released in large numbers, short-lived cells

- Macrophages travel in the blood as monocytes which develop into macrophages ne they
leave the blood and settle in the organs (lungs, kidneys, spleen and lymph nodes),
removing any foreign matter
- Long-live cells that initiate the immune response by cutting up pathogens to display the
antigen that can be recognised by lymphocytes

Phagocytosis
- Cells under attacks release chemicals (histamine), which together with any chemicals
released by the pathogen attract passing neutrophils, which destroy the pathogens by
phagocytosis
- This movement towards a chemical stimulus is called chemotaxis

- The pathogens may be found in clusters and covered in antibodies which further
stimulate the neutrophils to attack the pathogens
- Neutrophils have protein receptors that recognises antibody molecules to attach to them

- Cell surface membranes of neutrophils engulf the pathogens and trap them within a
phagocytic vacuole (endocytosis)
- Lysosomes fuse with these vacuoles releasing enzymes that breakdown the pathogen

- Dead neutrophils collect at the site of infection to form pus

Lymphocytes
- Smaller than phagocytes, large nucleus

- B-lymphocytes (B cells) remain in the bone marrow until they are mature and then
spread throughout the body, concentrating in the lymph nodes and spleen
 - T-lymphocytes (T cells) leave the bone marrow and collect in the thymus where they
mature. The thymus gland is a gland that lies below the sternum. Doubles in size
between birth and puberty but shrinks after puberty

- Only mature lymphocytes can carry out immune response

- During maturation, many different types of B and T lymphocytes develop, each type is
specialised to respond to one antigen giving the immune system as a whole the ability to
respond to almost any type of pathogen
- Mature B and T lymphocytes circulated between the blood and lymph, ensuring they are
distributed throughout the body so that they come into contact with any pathogens and
with each other

B lymphocytes
1- Immature in the bone marrow, B cells divide by mitosis
2- Still in the bone marrow the cells mature
3- production of B cell receptors
4- B cells receptors in the cell surface membrane
5- Mature B cells circulate and concentrate in the spleen and liver

> each small group identical B cells is called a clone

> CLONAL SELECTION: individual lymphocytes have cell surface receptors specific to one
antigen; this specificity is determined as lymphocytes mature and before any antigen enters the
body

>CLONAL EXPANSION : the increase in the number of specific clones of lymphocytes by

mitosis during an immune response

1- only of the B cells have a receptor that is specific to the shape of the antigen that has entered
the body
2- The selected B cell divides by mitosis. Some of the daughter cells develop into plasma cells
others into memory cells
> PLASMA CELL: short-lived, activated b-lymphocytes produced during clonal
expansion; plasma cells produce and release antibody molecules
> MEMORY CELLS: long-lived, activated b-lymphocytes that is specific to one antigen;
memory cells are activated to differentiate into plasma cells only during secondary immune
responses to the specific antigen
3- plasma cells secrete antibodies that specifically combine with the antigen that has entered
the body
4- when the antigen enters the body for a second time memory cells produced during stage 2
respond and divided to form more plasma cells which secrete antibodies

> PRIMARY IMMUNE RESPONSE: the first immune response to a specific antigen
> SECONDARY IMMUNE RESPONSE: the second and any subsequent immune response to a
specific antigen

>IMMUNOLOGICAL MEMORY: the ability of the immune system to mount a larger and more
rapid response to an antigen that has already been encountered before

B cells and antibodies

- Antibodies are globular proteins, they form a group of plasma proteins called
immunoglobulins
- Each contains 4 polypeptide chains; 2 long or heavy, 2 short or light; are held together
by disulfide bonds
- Each molecule has 2 identical variable regions, the sequence of amino acids in these
regions make specific v3D structures which bind to one antigen
- The ‘hinge’ region give flexibility for the antibody molecule to bind to antigens on the
surface of a pathogen

- Antitoxins bind to block the toxins released by bacteria

T-lymphocytes
- Mature t cells have specific cell surface receptors, each specific to one antigen,
- Activated when they recognise this antigen on another cell of the host
- Respond by dividing by mitosis to increase the number of cells, T cells also go through
clonal selection and clonal expansion

- The display of antigens of the surface of cells is known as antigen presentation

Ex: macrophages, invaded body cell displaying similar antigen on its surface as a ‘help’ signal

>T-HELPER CELLS: type of T-lymphocyte that secretes cytokines to coordinate activity during
immune responses
>CYTOKINES: any signalling molecule released by cells to influence the growth and/or
differentiation of the same or another cell

>T-KILLER CELLS: type of t-lymphocyte that attaches to cells, releasing toxic substances to kill
infected cells and cancer cells

- Memory T-helper cells and memory T-killer cells remain in the body and become active
very quickly during secondary responses to antigens