The Role of Antigen-Presenting Cells
- T-lymphocytes produce an immune response when they are exposed to a specific antigen
- T cells will only bind to an antigen if it is present on the surface of an antigen-presenting cell
What is an antigen-presenting cell?
- An antigen-presenting cell is one of the host's cells that has been invaded by a pathogen and is displaying the antigen on its cell surface membrane
What does an antigen-presenting cell do?
- These cells present the antigens from toxins, foreign cells and ingested pathogens
- They help to recruit other cells of the immune system to produce a specific immune response
- Once the surface receptor of the T cell binds to the specific complementary antigen (on the antigen-presenting cell) it becomes sensitised and starts dividing to produce a clone of cells
What are the antigen-presenting cells?
- Several different immune system cells can present antigens
- The most common types are macrophages and dendritic cells
- Although less common, neutrophils can also act as antigen-presenting cells
