MICR 3230 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Clonal Selection, Antigen, Immunology
Document Summary
Immunity: the state of protection against foreign pathogens or substances (antigens) Thucydides wrote in 430 bc of a plague in athens where those who had recovered could safely nurse the ill. The body has encountered the pathogen, and the immune system in the body has now created antibodies to protect the body in case it encounters the antigen a second time. Vaccination prepares the immune system to eradicate an infectious agent before it causes disease. Classic examples: rabies vaccine and the eradication of small pox. Vaccine stimulates the immune system, so second time individual is exposed to that pathogen, the body is equipped to fight it off. Body remembers the pathogen and can more efficiently attack it compared to the first time the body encountered it (memory) These can eradicate pathogens, clear infected self-cells, or aid other cells in inducing immunity. Individual b and t cells each have an individual specificity for a single antigen.