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MCB 229 Spring 2000 Study Guide 22 Prof. Terry

1. How do you specific immunity differ from innate (natural) immunity?
2. Distinguish the following terms: naturally acquired active immunity, naturally acquired passive immunity, artificially acquired active immunity, artificially acquired passive immunity.
3. The terminology for cells of the immune system is complex. Note that all immune cells derive from stem cells found in bone marrow. As these cells mature, they take different routes. Some become phagocytic cells (e.g. macrophages) or other components (e.g. platelets). Others become lymphocytes. Although all lymphocytes look alike in the microscope, they are very different functionally. T cells mature in the thymus gland, and differentiate further into several varieties which can be distinguished based on whether they carry surface proteins of type CD4 or CD8. B cells mature in the bone marrow, and have the capacity to differentiate further (if stimulated) into memory and plasma cells. T cells are involved in regulating B cells, in recruiting macrophages, and in killing cells with detectable "foreign" antigens. Some lymphocytes, called natural killer cells, are distinct from both T and B cells.
4. What is an antigen? What kinds of molecules are typically good antigens? What is an epitope?
5. What is a hapten? What is an adjuvant?
6. Explain what antibodies look like and how they behave. Draw an IgG molecule and label its component parts.
   (a) What properties do IgG, IgM, and IgA antibodies have in common? What properties distinguish them?
   (b) Which type of antibody binds antigen most avidly? Which type is most abundant in blood and lymph?
   (c) Where would you find IgA?
   (d) Where are the antigen binding sites located on a Y-shaped unit?
   (e) Where are variable and constant regions located? How do they differ?
   (g) If you compare IgG antibodies directed against influenza virus and against poliovirus, where and how do they differ?
7. How many different specific antibodies are there (roughly)? Is each antibody specificity encoded in DNA? If so, how much DNA is required for this coding? If not, how do different antibody specificities arise? (Hint: see Figs. 30.14-30.16)
8. What is the clonal selection theory? Which class of cells actually produce circulating antibodies? Where do these cells come from?
9. How do primary and secondary antibody responses differ? How long does it take for the body to mount an effective response in each case? Which kind of antibodies is involved in each?
10. What is a myeloma cell? What is a hybridoma? What is a monoclonal antibody? How do such antibodies differ from the antibodies produced when an animal is challenged with a new antigen?