Immune System Basics
This part of the immune system responds immediately to danger signals and is non-specific.
What is the innate immune system
This barrier protects the central nervous system from immune cells and large molecules.
What is the blood-brain barrier?
The cumulative wear and tear on the body from chronic stress.
What is allostatic load?
These are small proteins that play a role in immune cell signaling.
What are cytokines?
Higher scores of this measure are associated with lower levels of COVID-19 antibodies.
What is the ACE (Adverse Childhood Experience) score?
This immune cell type is crucial for creating immune memory.
What are B cells?
These central nervous system cells respond to danger signals and produce cytokines.
What are astrocytes?
The axis that involves the hypothalamus, pituitary, and adrenal cortex, leading to cortisol release.
What is the HPA (Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal) axis?
This type of T cell receptor allows T cells to recognize specific antigens.
What are T cell receptors (TCRs)?
These types of immune cells are essential for COVID-19 immunity and have shown variation in response among individuals.
What are T cells and B cells?
These are the molecules that trigger immune responses by signaling potential threats like pathogens.
What are DAMPs and PAMPs?
The nervous system's response to inflammation that decreases immune activity.
What is the parasympathetic inflammatory reflex?
Chronic stress can result in resistance to this type of hormone, leading to inflammation.
Cytokines released from these immune cells activate pro-inflammatory genes.
What are macrophages?
This protein serves as a target for COVID-19 antibodies that were lower in people with high ACE scores.
What is the spike protein?
This type of T cell helps regulate and activate B cells.
What are CD4+ Helper T cells?
Neurotransmitter released by the sympathetic nervous system that stimulates the adrenal gland.
What is norepinephrine?
This behavioral syndrome includes social withdrawal and fatigue in response to infection.
What is sickness behavior?
This receptor on immune cells plays a role in reducing inflammation in response to acetylcholine.
What is α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (α7nAChR)?
This immune cell type’s gene expression is affected by ACE scores, particularly affecting antiviral response.
What are dendritic cells (DCs)?
The protein complex that helps T cells recognize antigens on infected cells.
What is the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC)?
This type of glial cell produces cytokines to regulate blood-brain barrier permeability.
What are oligodendrocytes?
This shift in gene expression due to stress and adversity increases inflammation but reduces antiviral immunity.
What is the Conserved Transcriptional Response to Adversity (CTRA)?
This type of antibody response is essential after vaccination or infection to prevent reinfection.
What is the adaptive immune response?
Term for the immunity proxy used to evaluate the adaptive immune system health in COVID-19 studies.
What is COVID-19 immune memory?