Questions of the week_18 May 07

Back in business.

Immune Response and Timing
We discussed about this in class but i think some are still a bit lost and I need to clarify something so here is it again in a more structured form:

Apologies to the Fleas but the amount of antibody in the serum can drop to zero but not the population of B-cells producting it! (I was thinking of the B-cells then)

Anyway, in a similar fashion, the number of a particular subset of B-cells will increase with the invasion of a foreign body (there will be a time lag of course)and increased secretion of antibodies. But the no of B-cells will subside subsequently when apoptotic mechanism is triggered in most while the rest remained with memory of the antigen they have fought against.
So while the B-cell may be around, they may not produce antibodies (especially after the primary immune response)

For the secondary response, it will be greater+faster (because the B-cells have a good memory or what we called primed and there is a larger population compared to when the antigen first strike) and the production then can last a longer time with persistent levels for months or even years.