HUMORAL DEFENCES
THE COMPLEMENT SYSTEM
ANTIBODIES
• Humoral immunity refers to the non cellular aspects of the immune
system i.e. antibodies synthesis and the accessory processes that
accompany it, including:
• Th2 activation and cytokine production,
• Germinal centre formation and iso...
,• Humoral immunity refers to the non cellular aspects of the im
system i.e. antibodies synthesis and the accessory process
accompany it, including:
• Th2 activation and cytokine production,
• Germinal centre formation and isotype switching,
• Affinity maturation and
• Memory cell generation.
• It also refers to the effector functions of antibody, which inclu
• Pathogen and toxin neutralization,
• Classical complement activation,
• Opsonin promotion of phagocytosis and pathogen elimination.
,THE COMPLEMENT SYSTEM
, • The complement system is the major effector of the humoral branc
immune system.
• The complement system comprises a group of approximately 40-50
proteins and on cell surfaces that become activated in a cascade, upon
to certain microbial polysaccharides that are not normally pre
vertebrates, but are commonly found on bacterial membranes.
• The cascade begins with the identification of pathogenic surfaces an
to:
• The generation of potent proinflammatory mediators (anaphylatoxins),
• Opsonization ('coating') of the pathogenic surface through various com
opsonins (e.g., C3b), and
• Targeted lysis of the pathogenic surface through the assembly of membrane-pe
pores known as the membrane attack complex (MAC).
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