The cellular basis of immunological memory is the clonal expansion and clonal differentiation of cells that have a specific attraction for the eliciting antigen, and the memory is therefore entirely antigen-specific. It is immunological memory that enables successful vaccination and prevents reinfection with pathogens that have been repelled successfully by an adaptive immune response. In Chapter 11, we will return to immunological memory, which is perhaps the most important biological consequence of adaptive immunity.
Summary.
While the innate immune system relies on invariant pattern recognition receptors to detect common microbial structures or the damage they cause, the adaptive immune system relies on a repertoire of antigen receptors to recognize structures that are specific to individual pathogens. This feature provides adaptive immunity with greater sensitivity and specificity. The clonal expansion of antigen-reactive lymphocytes also confers the property of immunological memory, which enhances protection against reinfection by the same pathogen.
Adaptive immunity relies on two major types of lymphocytes. B cells mature in the bone marrow and are the source of circulating antibodies. T cells mature in the thymus and recognize peptides from pathogens presented by MHC the effector mechanisms of immunity.
molecules on infected cells or antigen-presenting cells. An adaptive response involves the selection and amplification of clones of lymphocytes bearing receptors that recognize the foreign antigen. This clonal selection provides the theoretical framework for understanding all the key features of an adaptive immune response.
Each lymphocyte carries cell-surface receptors of a single antigen specificity. These receptors are generated by the random recombination of variable receptor gene segments and the pairing of distinct variable protein chains: heavy and light chains in immunoglobulins, or the two chains of T-cell receptors. The large antigen-receptor repertoire of lymphocytes can recognize virtually any antigen. Adaptive immunity is initiated when an innate immune response fails to eliminate a new infection and activated antigen-presenting cells—typically dendritic cells that bear antigens from pathogens and co-stimulatory receptors—migrate to the draining lymphoid tissues.
Immune responses are initiated in several peripheral lymphoid tissues. The spleen serves as a filter for blood-borne infections. Lymph nodes draining various tissues and the mucosal and gut-associated lymphoid tissues (MALT and GALT) are organized into specific zones where T and B cells can be activated efficiently by antigen-presenting cells or helper T cells. When a recirculating lymphocyte encounters its corresponding antigen in these peripheral lymphoid tissues, it proliferates, and its clonal progeny differentiate into effector T and B lymphocytes that can eliminate the infectious agent. A subset of these proliferating lymphocytes differentiates into memory cells, ready to respond rapidly to the same pathogen if it is encountered again. The details of these processes of recognition, development, and differentiation form the main material of the central three parts of this book.
The effector mechanisms of immunity.