Question

Can someone tell me why B + T cells require multiple signals to become mature?

Answer 1

Ans

Helper T cells are arguably the most important cells in adaptive immunity, as they are required for almost all adaptive immune responses. They not only help activate B cells to secrete antibodies and macrophages to destroy ingested microbes, but they also help activate cytotoxic T cells to kill infected target cells. As dramatically demonstrated in AIDS patients, without helper T cells we cannot defend ourselves even against many microbes that are normally harmless.

Helper T cells themselves, however, can only function when activated to become effector cells. They are activated on the surface of antigen-presenting cells, which mature during the innate immune responses triggered by an infection. The innate responses also dictate what kind of effector cell a helper T cell will develop into and thereby determine the nature of the adaptive immune response elicited.

In this final section, we discuss the multiple signals that help activate a T cell and how a helper T cell, once activated to become an effector cell, helps activate other cells. We also consider how innate immune responses determine the nature of adaptive responses by stimulating helper T cells to differentiate into either TH1 or TH2 effector cells.