Lymphocyte

From Ganfyd

A sub type of leukocyte with key roles in immune response and antigen presentation. It has multiple subtypes and indeed these have in turn important subtypes:

B lymphocytes (B cells)

• Manufacture antibody
• Recognise antigen in its native form
• Humoral immune response of the adaptive immune system
• Can help with MHC Class II presentation

NK lymphocytes (Natural killer cells)

• Express CD16 and CD56
• Do not express CD3
• Do not express T-cell receptors or immunoglobulins
• Do have activating receptors (it was initially thought they did not as they recognised non-self, ie they self activatedly killed cells with low levels of MHC class I surface markers ) as well as inhibitory receptors

T lymphocytes (T cells)

• Express T cell receptor (TCR)
• Mature immunocompetent T cells express either CD8 (MHC class I molecule selection) or CD4 (MHC class II molecule selection).