Difference between Innate and Adaptive Immune Responses for Effective Pathogen Recognition and Immune Memory

………lacks the capacity to remember a pathogen or react differently to it in the future, whereas….utilizes memory cell to adapt to a given pathogen and ward it off more easily in the future

Nonspecific resistance; adaptive immunity

The first part of the statement describes the immune response of the innate immune system. The innate immune system responds immediately to any invading pathogen or foreign substance. They work through pre-existing defenses in the body to respond to the invader. However, the innate immune response lacks specificity and memory. The cells of the innate immune response are not able to recognize specific pathogens or remember an encounter with a pathogen. Therefore, the next time the same pathogen enters the body, the immune response starts from scratch and responds to it as if it were a new invader.

In contrast, the second part of the statement describes the immune response of the adaptive immune system. The adaptive immune system takes longer to respond to an invading pathogen, but it has more specificity and memory. The adaptive immune system is composed of T and B cells which recognize and react to specific pathogens. When the immune system encounters a new pathogen, these cells are activated and undergo clonal expansion which leads to the production of memory cells. Memory cells are long-lived cells that retain the ability to remember the specific pathogen and are primed for a more rapid and robust response to the pathogen if it is encountered again. This memory response is one of the main advantages of the adaptive immune system over the innate immune system.

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