Help with Immunology

[FoxintheBox]

For an upcoming test I will be required to write an essay that will ask to describe the entire immune response, only in general however. What I have so far is as follows:

The first defense against pathogens is the skin and mucosa. If a pathogen is able to get past these barriers it will enter the blood and be consumed by a macrophage; if the pathogen is a virus it will enter into a cell and eventually be presented on that cell as an epitope+MHCI protein. Otherwise the macrophage will then degrade the pathogen into epitopes and present them on its surface bound to MHCII proteins.

The Epitope+MHCI or MHCII will then stimulate Thelper cells. Thelper cells then stimulate both Tcytotoxic and Naive Bcells. T cytotoxic cells move to the site of inflammation by chemotaxis and either secrete perforin or differentiate into T suppresor cells. Stimulated Bcells either differentiate into plasma cells or memory b cells. Plasma cells secrete antibodies, memory b cells move to and wait at the site where the pathogen was detected.

Once Antibodies are produced they will bind to and neutralize/opsonize/agglutinate the pathogen. Antiboy binding also triggers the complement system that forms a membrane attack complex to lyse nearby cells.

Is that all accurate? Anything I forgot?

[mith]

MHC 1 does not get presented to helper cells.

[sdekivit]

helper T cells do not directly activate cytotoxic T cells; these can be activated by the antigen presenting cells directly after interacting with the MHC-I:antigen complex and costimulatory molecules.

However, helper T cells activate APCs more then the recognition of the potential harmful antigen and so the APC expresses even more costimulatory molecules (and thus the CD8+ T cell is indirectly activated by the CD4+ T cell)

[jenica56]

Of the various equally important organ systems in the living body, the immune system takes up the responsibility of the warrior as it protects the body from all types of diseases and fights them too. In definitive terms, Immunology is the discipline of biomedical science that deals with and studies all the concepts of immune system in respect of all organisms. Among other things, it also deals with the physiological functioning of the system both in health and disease. The study of Immunology is an unusual course which is fast gaining popularity among the new generation of students in this age of specification. Moreover, the development of the health, nutrition and hospital sector has largely been responsible for the growth in interest.