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A Level Biology CIE
11.1 The Immune System
CONTENTS
11.1.1 Phagocytes
11.1.2 Antigens
11.1.3 Primary Immune Response
11.1.4 Memory Cells & Immunity
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11.1.1 Phagocytes YOUR NOTES
Phagocytes: Origin & Mode of Action
Phagocytes are white blood cells that are produced continuously in the bone marrow
They are stored in the bone marrow before being distributed around the body in the blood
They are responsible for removing dead cells and invasive microorganisms
They carry out what is known as a non-specific immune response
There are two main types of phagocyte, each with a specific mode of action. The two types
are:
Neutrophils
Macrophages
As both are phagocytes, both carry out phagocytosis (the process of recognising and
engulfing a pathogen) but the process is slightly different for each type of phagocyte
Neutrophils
Neutrophils travel throughout the body and often leave the blood by squeezing through
capillary walls to ‘patrol’ the body tissues
During an infection, they are released in large numbers from their stores
However, they are short-lived cells
Mode of action:
Chemicals released by pathogens, as well as chemicals released by the body cells
under attack (eg. histamine), attract neutrophils to the site where the pathogens are
located (this response to chemical stimuli is known as chemotaxis)
Neutrophils move towards pathogens (which may be covered in antibodies)
The antibodies are another trigger to stimulate neutrophils to attack the pathogens
(neutrophils have receptor proteins on their surfaces that recognise antibody
molecules and attach to them)
Once attached to a pathogen, the cell surface membrane of a neutrophil extends out
and around the pathogen, engulfing it and trapping the pathogen within a phagocytic
vacuole
This part of the process is known as endocytosis
The neutrophil then secretes digestive enzymes into the vacuole (the enzymes are
released from lysosomes which fuse with the phagocytic vacuole)
These digestive enzymes destroy the pathogen
After killing and digesting the pathogens, the neutrophils die
Pus is a sign of dead neutrophils
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The stages of phagocytosis, as carried out by a neutrophil YOUR NOTES
Macrophages
Macrophages are larger than neutrophils and are long-lived cells
Rather than remaining in the blood, they move into organs including the lungs, liver,
spleen, kidney and lymph nodes
After being produced in the bone marrow, macrophages travel in the blood as monocytes,
which then develop into macrophages once they leave the blood to settle in the various
organs listed above
Mode of action:
Macrophages play a very important role in initiating an immune response
Although they still carry out phagocytosis in a similar way to neutrophils, they do not
destroy pathogens completely
They cut the pathogens up so that they can display the antigens of the pathogens on
their surface (through a structure called the major histocompatibility complex)
These displayed antigens (the cell is now called an antigen-presenting cell) can then
be recognised by lymphocytes (another type of white blood cell)
Exam Tip
The vacuole formed around a bacterium once it has been engulfed by a phagocyte is
called a phagosome. A lysosome fuses with the membrane of the phagosome (to
form a phagolysosome) and releases lysozymes (digestive enzymes) to digest the
pathogen.
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11.1.2 Antigens YOUR NOTES
Antigens, Self & Non-Self
Every cell in the human body has markers that identify it
Microorganisms (both pathogenic and non-pathogenic), such as bacteria and viruses, also
have their own unique markers
These markers are called antigens (which are macromolecules) and they allow cell-to-cell
recognition
Antigens are found on cell surface membranes, bacterial cell walls, or the surfaces of
viruses
Some glycolipids and glycoproteins on the outer surface of cell surface membranes
act as antigens
Antigens can be either self antigens or non-self antigens:
Antigens produced by the organism's own body cells (those that the immune
system does not recognise as foreign antigens) are known as self antigens
Self antigens do not stimulate an immune response
Antigens not produced by the organism’s own body cells (those that the immune
system recognises as being foreign eg. the antigens found on pathogenic bacteria
and viruses or if a person receives a different blood type during a transfusion) are
known as non-self antigens
Non-self antigens stimulate an immune response
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11.1.3 Primary Immune Response YOUR NOTES
Primary Immune Response (Advanced)
Lymphocytes are another type of white blood cell
They play an important part in the specific immune response
They are smaller than phagocytes
They have a large nucleus that fills most of the cell
They are produced in the bone marrow before birth
There are two types of lymphocytes (with different modes of action). The two types of
lymphocytes are:
B-lymphocytes (B cells)
T-lymphocytes (T cells)
B-lymphocytes
B-lymphocytes (B cells) remain in the bone marrow until they are mature and then spread
through the body, concentrating in lymph nodes and the spleen
Millions of types of B-lymphocyte cells are produced within us because as they mature the
genes coding for antibodies are changed to code for different antibodies
Once mature, each type of B-lymphocyte cell can make one type of antibody molecule
At this stage, the antibody molecules do not leave the B-lymphocyte cell but remain in the
cell surface membrane
Part of each antibody molecule forms a glycoprotein receptor that can combine
specifically with one type of antigen
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The maturation of B-lymphocytes – by the time a child is born, it will have millions of
different types of B-lymphocytes, each with a specific antibody receptor
When an antigen enters the body for the first time, the small numbers of B-lymphocytes
with receptors complementary to that antigen are stimulated to divide by mitosis
This is known as clonal selection
As these clones divide repeatedly by mitosis (the clonal expansion stage) the result is large
numbers of identical B-lymphocytes being produced over a few weeks
During an immune response, these B-lymphocytes then form two types of cell:
Some of these B-lymphocytes become plasma cells that secrete lots of antibody
molecules (specific to the antigen) into the blood, lymph or linings of the lungs and the
gut
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These plasma cells are short-lived (their numbers drop off after several weeks) but the YOUR NOTES
antibodies they have secreted stay in the blood for a longer time
The other B-lymphocytes become memory cells that remain circulating in the blood
for a long time
This response to a newly encountered antigen is relatively slow and is known as a
primary immune response
During a primary immune response, B-lymphocytes form two types of cell
T-lymphocytes
Immature T-lymphocytes leave the bone marrow to mature in the thymus
Mature T-lymphocytes have specific cell surface receptors called T cell receptors
These receptors have a similar structure to antibodies and are each specific to one
antigen
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The maturation of T-lymphocytes – some become helper T cells and others become killer T
cells
T-lymphocytes are activated when they encounter (and bind to) their specific antigen that
is being presented by one of the host’s cells (host cells being the human’s own cells)
This antigen-presenting host cell might be a macrophage or a body cell that has been
invaded by a pathogen and is displaying the antigen on its cell surface membrane
These activated T-lymphocytes (those that have receptors specific to the antigen) divide
by mitosis to increase in number (similar to the clonal selection and clonal expansion of B-
lymphocytes)
These T-lymphocytes differentiate into two main types of T cell:
helper T cells
killer T cells
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Helper T cells release cytokines (hormone-like signals) that stimulate B-lymphocytes to YOUR NOTES
divide and develop into antibody-secreting plasma cells. Some helper T cells secrete
cytokines that stimulate macrophages to increase their rates of phagocytosis
Killer T cells attach to the antigens on the cell surface membranes of infected cells and
secrete toxic substances that kill the body cells, along with the pathogen inside
Helper T cells and killer T cells carry out different functions during an immune response
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11.1.4 Memory Cells & Immunity YOUR NOTES
Memory Cells & Long-Term Immunity
During an immune response, B-lymphocytes form two types of cell: plasma cells and
memory cells
Memory cells form the basis of immunological memory – the cells can last for many years
and often a lifetime
There are two types of immune response:
Primary immune response (responding to a newly encountered antigen)
Secondary immune response (responding to a previously encountered antigen)
Primary immune response
When an antigen enters the body for the first time, the small numbers of B-lymphocytes
with receptors complementary to that antigen are stimulated to divide by mitosis
This is known as clonal selection
As these clones divide repeatedly by mitosis (the clonal expansion stage) the result is large
numbers of identical B-lymphocytes being produced over a few weeks
Some of these B-lymphocytes become plasma cells that secrete lots of antibody
molecules (specific to the antigen) into the blood, lymph or linings of the lungs and the gut
These plasma cells are short-lived (their numbers drop off after several weeks) but the
antibodies they have secreted stay in the blood for a longer time
The other B-lymphocytes become memory cells that remain circulating in the blood for a
long time
This response to a newly encountered pathogen is relatively slow
Secondary immune response
If the same antigen is found in the body a second time, the memory cells recognise the
antigen, divide very quickly and differentiate into plasma cells (to produce antibodies) and
more memory cells
This response is very quick, meaning that the infection can be destroyed and removed
before the pathogen population increases too much and symptoms of the disease
develop
This response to a previously encountered pathogen is, relative to the primary immune
response, extremely fast
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During a secondary immune response, memory cells that remained in the blood divide very
quickly into plasma cells (to produce antibodies) and more memory cells
T-lymphocytes also play a part in the secondary immune response
They differentiate into memory cells, producing two main types:
Memory helper T cells
Memory killer T cells
Just like the memory cells formed from B-lymphocytes, these memory T cells remain in the
body for a long time
If the same antigen is found in the body a second time, these memory T cells become
active very quickly
Exam Tip
Immunological memory (made possible by memory cells) is the reason why
catching certain diseases twice is so unlikely. For example, there is only one strain of
the virus that causes measles, and each time someone is re-infected with this virus,
there is a very fast secondary immune response so they do not get ill.However, some
infections such as the common cold and influenza are caused by viruses that are
constantly developing into new strains. As each strain has different antigens, the
primary immune response (during which we often become ill) must be carried out
each time before immunity can be achieved.
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