The study of the immune system in organisms, primarily responsible for fighting infection.
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1answer
330 views
Are lymphocyte sizes clustered in two groups?
Tortora writes in Principles of Anatomy and Physiology:
Lymphocytes may be as small as 6–9 μm in diameter or as large as 10–14 μm in diameter.
Those ranges are quite close to each others. Should ...
17
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2answers
73 views
How is duration of efficacy estimated for vaccines?
Vaccines, especially those given in adulthood, usually have term limits attached, eg: 10 years for yellow fever or 3 years for typhoid. Since presumably the time course of an immune response is no ...
15
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3answers
288 views
How does the immune system “learn” from a vaccine?
According to Wikipedia:
A vaccine typically contains an agent that resembles a disease-causing
microorganism, and is often made from weakened or killed forms of the
microbe, its toxins or one ...
13
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2answers
1k views
Harmless virus?
Is it possible for a virus to live symbiotically with its host?
Is the human body plagued with viral infections that do negligible harm, or even serve a beneficial role?
12
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1answer
130 views
Why do people dying of immune deficiency diseases appear sick?
Please forgive the obviously silly appearance of this question, and/or of the tenor which may come across as flippant or dismissive of real world suffering. My intention is none of the above.
As a ...
11
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1answer
82 views
What are the main mechanisms of interaction between the nervous and immune systems?
We know from pop science that our psychological states have an effect on our immune systems ("worrying ourselves sick", etc.), but what are the actual mechanisms through which our nervous systems pass ...
10
votes
1answer
171 views
What are the clotting factors' effect on avascular necrosis development?
Do clotting factors tpa and pai-1 lead to degenerative osteoarthritis in the same way that lupus anticoagulant and prothrombin might? Is one of these pathways particularly detrimental during formation ...
9
votes
2answers
291 views
Why do people have antibodies against other blood types?
The ABO blood type divides each blood type according to whether they have the "A" and "B" antigen(s) (AB has both, O has none). People also have antibodies against the antigens they don't have (AB has ...
9
votes
1answer
116 views
In which order did the cells of the immune system evolve?
Thinking about how complex the interactions between different types of immune system cells (T-helpers, T-Killers, Phagocytes, B-Cells etc.) are, it's fascinating how they all combine to get the ...
9
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1answer
88 views
Why is there an extended delay before G.M. liver cells are attacked by the immune system?
In this BBC article a trial is described where patients with B-Haemophillia are infected with modified Adeno-associated Virus 8 which contained the genes for Factor IX clotting protein. Trials seemed ...
9
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1answer
129 views
How does herpes (HSV) infection suppress HIV?
HIV compromises the human body to defend against infection. Yet people who are infected with herpes are at less risk of developing AIDS.
How does this work?
9
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1answer
92 views
Organ cloning - possible to make a non-antigenic organ?
From a J. Neil Schulman article on Organ Cloning:
Cannibalizing organs from other people also entails the risk of
rejection because of incompatibilities, not only for tissue-typing but
also ...
8
votes
2answers
109 views
How are antibodies designed?
Antibodies have the ability of recognising highly specific peptide sequences and bind it at their antigen-binding site.
This ability is harnessed as a tool in research to purify target structures in ...
8
votes
2answers
162 views
Do antibiotics attenuate immune response on subsequent exposure to same bacteria?
A healthy immune response to a bacterial infection includes "memory" to permit the body to thwart subsequent exposure to same bacteria. What are the dynamics of using antibiotics on initial exposure ...
8
votes
1answer
119 views
Do antigens protrude through the capsule/slime layer in prokaryotic organisms where these features are present?
In prokaryotic organisms that have a slime layer or capsule, do intrinsic/extrinsic proteins and other molecules that could be used as antigens protrude through the capsule?
I assume that they ...
8
votes
1answer
97 views
What prevents a pregnant woman's immune system from recognizing her fetus as nonself (and attacking)?
I'm familiar with the scenario of Rh- mother with Rh+ fetus having complications (more so after her first child), but that's not what I'm curious about. I want to know mechanistically why a pregnant ...
7
votes
2answers
74 views
What is the smallest molecule that can present as an antigen to the immune system in the context of allergies?
People often claim, in a colloquial sense, that they are "allergic to everything".
Is it possible to have a full-fledged IgE mediated allergic response to very small molecules? I was always under ...
7
votes
1answer
176 views
Why do dendritic cells have CD4/CD8 on their surface?
Why do dendritic cells have CD4 or CD8 antigens on their surface? What is their function without the presence of a T-cell receptor?
7
votes
1answer
217 views
Is there a maximum amount of antibodies your body can keep?
I am wondering if you were theoretically able to get vaccinations or antibodies for any and every diseases and/or illness, would there be a limit to how many you can get and keep in your body at one ...
6
votes
1answer
47 views
Why does not the host produce any immune response to antiserum antibodies?
When an antiserum is injected to a person to protect oneself from a certain disease, the antibodies in the antiserum come from another organism. The question is:
Why don't the injected antibodies ...
6
votes
1answer
355 views
Why do vaccines cause your arm to hurt?
When you get a shot for a vaccine (for example, the annual flu vaccine), the nurse frequently indicates that your arm will ache for a day or two, maybe more. This ache is typically not just a pain ...
6
votes
2answers
55 views
Macrophage pathogen fixation
Overly simplified, macrophages recognise pathogenic patterns and endocytose anything that matches them.
That also works on bacteria, which are quite often very mobile. What if a bacterium was just ...
6
votes
0answers
39 views
Using the IMGT/GENE-DB service to find RSS
I'm trying to get the data for the Human and Mouse 12 and 23 Recomination
Signal Sequences (RSS), to run a classification algorithm on it. I'm not a
biologist, so I apologise in advance for my ...
5
votes
2answers
127 views
How do infectious bacteria know when their numbers are high enough to attack a host?
When you get sick, you generally don't contract enough bacteria at once for them to succeed in battling your immune system, right? Their numbers must gradually increase in the host's body before they ...
5
votes
2answers
68 views
Is there a strong reason to be sceptical about the “cured HIV patient” being reported by mainstream media?
There's a story going round the news about a baby that was, apparently, cured of HIV using a cocktail of drugs at an early age. The story piqued my interest, but details seem scarce. One of the main ...
5
votes
1answer
81 views
What is the biological mechanism linking temperature and probability to be infected with a virus?
It is common knowledge that when you're cold you could get a cold.
What is the mechanism linking temperature and viral infection?
5
votes
1answer
122 views
At what age do babies begin to synthesize their own antibodies?
When babies are first born, they receive their antibodies from their mother (I assume because they do not yet have the capacity to synthesize their own). So my question is, at what age do babies ...
5
votes
1answer
891 views
What cells would have the CD3 marker on them (other than T-cells)
Do you know of any peripheral blood mononuclear cells that would express any amount (beit low or high) of CD3 on their surface (other than T-cells)?
5
votes
1answer
270 views
Multi-nucleated cells: advantages and examples?
This question arises because I saw that monocytes and leukocytes are commonly called 'mononuclear cells' in the scientific literature. The implication of course being that other immune sub-types are ...
4
votes
1answer
128 views
If fever is a natural immune defense, why do people take drugs to lower it?
If fever is a natural defense against pathogens, why do sick people take NSAIDs to reduce the fever?
4
votes
2answers
341 views
What's the advantage of autocrine signalling?
In the antibody-mediated immune response, when the helper T cell gets activated by the costimulus (IL-2 and TNF-α secreted by the APC) which in turn produces IL-2, IL-2 acts in an autocrine manner. ...
4
votes
1answer
49 views
Conjugate secondary antibody
Why is the secondary antibody conjugated to the enzyme in ELISA, instead of the primary antibody? Wouldn't it be easier to conjugate the enzyme to the primary antibody?
4
votes
1answer
91 views
How and when did a dedicated immune system evolve?
I have recently been doing a lot of research into the interplay between the innate and adaptive immune systems in humans, and mammalian laboratory models. This has led to my reading some interesting ...
4
votes
1answer
79 views
How do the variable portions of antibody genes look in cells which don't produce antibodies?
There are several families of antibodies found in mammals. They may have two or more antibody domains which contain heavy and light chains. The variable regions of the light and heavy chains genes ...
4
votes
1answer
58 views
Can the immune system stop plasmodium from being active?
Suppose a female Anopheles infected with Plasmodium bites someone and transmits Plasmodium to their body.
Can that person's immune system be strong enough that it can kill the Plasmodium before it ...
4
votes
1answer
43 views
During human ageing, which immune cell sub-types are most affected?
It is now well established that human ageing is accompanied by an increase in systemic, low-grade (chronic) inflammation, sometimes termed inflammaging (Franceschi, 2007). This is in part due to more ...
4
votes
1answer
112 views
From inflammation to sickness and depression: when the immune system subjugates the brain
Recently, some research, for example this article has proposed that inflammation can cause innate immune cells to produce pro-inflammatory cytokines that act on the brain to cause sickness behaviour.
...
4
votes
1answer
44 views
Is it possible to purify antigens from a vaccine and to separate them from the adjuvant?
I need to separate the antigens from several vaccines in order to use them for coating microplates to run an indirect ELISA. I at least need to remove the adjuvant from the vaccines. Is this possible ...
4
votes
0answers
33 views
Do you know of any disease where HLA / MHC association discovery has led to better treatment or management?
If we discover an association between a disease and a particular HLA type (MHC class I or class II molecule) then it may provide us with some insight into the disease in a very basic way. However, ...
3
votes
2answers
70 views
variation in antigen binding site of antibodies
Antibodies or immunoglobulins are proteins made by the immune system in response to alien(!) molecules. Each antibody binds to its specific antigen. This great diversity and specificity is cause of ...
3
votes
1answer
31 views
How to evaluate the efficacy of an antibody for fluorescence microscopy?
I'm trying to evaluate data taken from fluorescence microscopy with antibody staining, and am wondering whether there is any standard way to evaluate the specificity of the antibody for such ...
3
votes
1answer
79 views
What is the distinction between chemokines, cytokines, interferons and interleukins?
They all seem to describe molecules of similar function and many people seem to use them interchangeably.
Also please include any other similar molecules if I've forgotten any in the list above.
3
votes
1answer
90 views
How does paracetamol interfere with immune system?
Paracetamol is used to reduce body temperature when it is to high. The high body temperature (fever) is known to be an indication that immune system fights against an infection.
In this context I ...
3
votes
1answer
40 views
Antibody-antigen database
Is there a database where I can find an affinity estimate if I provide a given antibody and a given antigen sequence ?
Input : antibody + antigen sequence
Output : quantitative binding/affinity ...
2
votes
1answer
76 views
Insulin and monoclonal antibody production
When producing insulin, the gene for its production is inserted into the plasmid of a bacterium that is allowed to replicate freely.
Why can't the same thing be done with antibodies (as I understand ...
2
votes
1answer
38 views
Is it more likely to develop a throat-ache at night?
I have noticed that I rarely develop phlemmy throat-aches in the daytime, but often notice them after I have been sleeping. Is this a recognised phenomenon? Could it be because viruses or bacteria ...
2
votes
1answer
46 views
Why glycoproteins are better than non-glycoproteins in fulfilling biological tasks?
I have just an intuition that the carbohydrate part of glycoproteins help them to fulfil those tasks like in plasma membranes.
You can also get many more receptors if you can use carbohydrates too.
...
2
votes
1answer
97 views
Do T-cells express MHC molecules?
T-cells recognize the MHC molecules and body's own peptides. When it doesn't, it alarms the immune system. But do T-cells express MHC molecules ? If so, how are they using it? If not, what happens ...
2
votes
1answer
29 views
Up to date B cell review
Where would I find an up to date (last 6-7 years max) review on B cells? I've tried searching through pubmed with filters, cochrane library, medline and various other resources including searching old ...
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vote
2answers
58 views
HIV and T helper cells
As far as I know and could understand from reading about HIV, T helper cell is one of the main reasons to develop AIDS in patients infected with HIV virus, that because the absence of helper T cell ...
