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A lymphocyte is a type of white blood cell (leukocyte) in the immune system of most vertebrates. [1] Lymphocytes include T cells (for cell-mediated and cytotoxic adaptive immunity), B cells (for humoral, antibody-driven adaptive immunity), [2] [3] and innate lymphoid cells (ILCs; "innate T cell-like" cells involved in mucosal immunity and homeostasis), of which natural killer cells are an ...
An autoimmune response is prevented by eliminating cells that self-react. This occurs in the thymus by testing the cell against an array of self antigens expressed through the function of the autoimmune regulator (AIRE). The immunoglobulin lambda light chain locus contains protein-coding genes that can be lost with its rearrangement.
As a major lymphoid organ and a central player in the reticuloendothelial system, the spleen retains the ability to produce lymphocytes. The spleen stores red blood cells and lymphocytes. It can store enough blood cells to help in an emergency. Up to 25% of lymphocytes can be stored at any one time. [22]
Since antigen levels are usually low, contact in blood circulation would be unlikely. Therefore, T cells need a region where they can go to sample foreign antigens that have entered the body. When an APC, such as a dendritic cell, binds a foreign antigen; it becomes activated and moves into the lymph nodes (sites for antigen sampling by T cells ...
Antigen processing, or the cytosolic pathway, is an immunological process that prepares antigens for presentation to special cells of the immune system called T lymphocytes. It is considered to be a stage of antigen presentation pathways.
The antigens and antibodies combine by a process called agglutination. It is the fundamental reaction in the body by which the body is protected from complex foreign molecules, such as pathogens and their chemical toxins. In the blood, the antigens are specifically and with high affinity bound by antibodies to form an antigen-antibody complex.
The immune system may respond in multiple ways to an antigen; a key feature of this response is the production of antibodies by B cells (or B lymphocytes) involving an arm of the immune system known as humoral immunity. The antibodies are soluble and do not require direct cell-to-cell contact between the pathogen and the B-cell to function.
The result of central tolerance is a population of lymphocytes that do not mount immune response towards self-antigens. These cells use their TCR or BCR specificity to recognize foreign antigens, in order to play their specific roles in immune reaction against those antigens.