IMMUNITY

• THE HUMAN BODY HAS ABILITY TO

RESIST ALMOST ALL TYPES OF
ORGANISMS OR TOXINS THAT TEND TO
DAMAGE THE TISSUES AND ORGANS
 IMMUNITY

• INNATE

• ACQUIRED
 IMMUNITY
• INNATE
– Phagocytosis by WBC
– Acid secretions of stomach
– Skin
– Blood compounds
a) Lysozyme
b) basic polypeptides which react with Gram +
bacteria
– Complement Complex system
– Natural killer cells
 Lymphocyte

• Lymphocytes are small cells with virtually

no cytoplasm, found in the blood, in all
tissue and in lymphoid organs, such as
lymph nodes , the tonsils , thymus
gland , spleen and Peyer's patches .
• Peyer’s patch is a lymphoid tissue present
at submucosa of the wall of small
intestine which helps in body defense
mechanism by providing the number of
lymphocytes which resides in these
peyer’s patches.
 Lymphocyte

•A white blood cell of the mononuclear

leukocyte subgroup (like macrophage /
monocytes ).
•Lymphocytes identify foreign substances
and germs (bacteria or viruses) in the body
and produce antibodies and cells that
specifically target them.
•It takes from several days to weeks for
lymphocytes to recognize and attack a new
foreign substance.
 Lymphocyte

• The main lymphocyte sub-types are :

• B-Cells . Special B cells produce specific
antibodies, proteins that help destroy
foreign substances.
• T-Cells . T-cells attack virus-infected cells,
foreign tissue, and cancer cells. They also
produce a number of substances that
regulate the immune response.
 Lymphocyte

• NK Cells . Among other functions, natural

killer cells destroy cancer cells and virus-
infected cells through phagocytosis and by
producing substances that can kill such
cells.
• Null cells . An early population of
lymphocytes bearing neither T-cell nor B-
cell differentiation antigens.
 Antigen

• Each type of organisms and toxin almost

always contains one or more specific
chemical compounds in its makeup that are
different from all other compounds.
• These are proteins or large polysaccharides
that initiate the acquired immunity , are
called antigens.
 Haptens
• Substances with molecular weights of less
than 8000 seldom act as antigens, and are
called as Haptens.
• They can elicit immune response after
combing with protein that is antigenic
 Complement system

• It contains about 20 proteins which take

part in cascade reactions which end by
formation of lysis complex that destroy the
invading organism