Chapter 3 Discussion - Immunity

The following optional video may be helpful when you are reading the textbook.  

There are three major types of cells in adaptive immunity, B-cells, T-Helper cells and T-Killer cells. 

Adaptive immunity is the term for the part of the immune system that remembers pathogens that have invaded the body in the past. If they should ever return, the adaptive immune response will be waiting with a whole line of specific cells to identify them and knock them out before they can mount a full-scale infection. 

The adaptive response is sometimes referred to as humoral or cell-mediated immunity. 

The B-cells are the cells that produce antibodies against foreign pathogens. To be more specific, each B-cell produces only one type of antibody, designed to recognize only one small region of an invader. The target of that antibody is known as its antigen. Antigens may be a protein or other small molecule on the surface of a virus or bacteria. The tiny part of the antigen that the antibody recognizes is known as the epitope. There could be numerous epitopes on any antigens, and each epitope may be have a different antibody in the organism that recognizes it. 

Now, read p. 27-31, and watch the video: