whats a super antigen?

[uclacrewdude]

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ok, studying micro, cursing S. aureus, b/c i know TSST1 causes anaphylactic shock. its supposed to be a superAg, and i know it binds both TcR and MHC-II, but other than that i cant figure out why thats such a bad thing. how does that make it a superAg and therefore produce toxic shock syndrome?

 

[omarsaleh66]

Superantigens can bind to MHC/TCR without presenting the actual antigen so that means intead of 1% of T cells getting activated u are getting 10% T cell activation. That means that every freaking Tcell is responding cuz superantigen can bind to way more MHC/TCR complexes. Too much of a good thing is bad. U get such a big immune response that u go into shock.

Remember T cell can release TNF Beta. ANd then IL-2 is released that allows more macrophages to be activated and they release TNF alpha and these types of things in big quantities can induce shock.

 

[eurotrash]

Usually an antigen presenting cell would present an antigen by MHCII. In this case the exotoxin binds it on its own, producing a considerably greater immune response than what is appropriate. Remember, a little localized response in an infection is good, a big systemic response is very bad.

 

[uclacrewdude]

thanks guys, that was probably the best answer i couldve gotten! you rock!

 

[moses]

woe??!! since when did docs have to become microbiologists? even micro Phd's cant answer stuff like this to dissertation committees?

man if its this mcuh work--ill just go to the doc when i need to--dont have to waste my time trying to stress out BEING the doc...thats just plain insanity to work that hard when nfl games are on..... 😕

no offence crewsters--cuz ya know i luv ya--but hell that just seems God awful painful & time consuming to know that when u can just call ur doc buddy to make a diagnosis or refer the patient out if they got this time of ailment making it this much effort to diff diagnosis...hmmm...id still rather watch the nfl & leave the driving(diagnosing) to us (them)
hehehehee 👍

 

[leorl]

moses....maybe ...you really shouldn't become a doc. It's tedious, but it's something a lot of us find really interesting, so want to know. Micro's something we have to know really well.

 

[moses]

moses....maybe ...you really shouldn't become a doc. It's tedious, but it's something a lot of us find really interesting, so want to know. Micro's something we have to know really well.

hahahahahaa
im must be a *leorl* magnet??
hehehee

hey girl ya know i luv ya too--but hey, will u be my personal doc/shrink when ur graduated??
hahahahaha
i know...*no THANKS!!!* ur saying......

 

[Sage880]

hahahahahaa
im must be a *leorl* magnet??
hehehee

hey girl ya know i luv ya too--but hey, will u be my personal doc/shrink when ur graduated??
hahahahaha
i know...*no THANKS!!!* ur saying......

Zumanator, make sure you have good medical insurance and I will be your personal shrink. I'll even give you a kick-back. We'll make millions!

 

[fpr85]

I'm just wondering, after you succesfully complete medical school do people normally forget most of what they learned -- is it all a blur? Do you just memorize and then regurgitate or does it stick with you?
I can't remember half of the stuff that I learned in highschool over a year ago

 

[leorl]

You generally only remember what's necessary for your field. Like...you forget all of anatomy until you go to do your rotations and need to know some of it, but in a general way. Like a general medical exam, you obviously need to know where organs are for say...an abdominal exam and be able to figure out if something's irregular. You pretty much just really know the stuff that pertains to your area, and then know in general other things (because of systems integration). So a lot of the micro things like what the OP posted everyone would know. But you don't memorize it and have it all stick, what happens is you learn it, you forget. So you go back and read up on it again, and you forget details, so later you go back and read it again...it sticks eventually.

 

[leorl]

Moses, me and Sage will go into business. I'll handle your general medical and Sage can be your shrink. But you have to pay us well. Very well. deal? 🙂