11 Facts About Immunological memory

Immunological memory is the ability of the immune system to quickly and specifically recognize an antigen that the body has previously encountered and initiate a corresponding immune response.

Innate immune Immunological memory is neither antigen-specific nor dependent on gene rearrangement, but the different response is caused by changes in epigenetic programming and shifts in cellular metabolism.

Innate immune Immunological memory was observed in invertebrates as well as in vertebrates.

Immunological memory occurs after a primary immune response against the antigen.

Immunological memory is thus created by each individual, after a previous initial exposure, to a potentially dangerous agent.

However, there remain antibodies previously created in the body that represent the humoral component of immunological memory and comprise an important defensive mechanism in subsequent infections.

Previously acquired immune Immunological memory can be depleted by measles in unvaccinated children, leaving them at risk of infection by other pathogens in the years after infection.

Many invertebrates such as species of fresh water snails, copepod crustaceans, and tapeworms have been observed activating innate immune Immunological memory to instigate a more efficient immune response to second encounter with specific pathogens, despite missing an adaptive branch of the immune system.

Innate immune Immunological memory is defined as a long-term functional reprogramming of innate immune cells evoked by exogenous or endogenous insults and leading to an altered response towards a second challenge after returning to a non-activated state.

Immune Immunological memory brings a big evolutionary advantage when the organism is facing repeated infections.

Immune Immunological memory is common for the vast majority of biodiversity on earth.