The lonely Macrophage encounters and eats a pathogen floating in the blood.
This pathogen looks like a five course meal!
Pathogen
Macrophage
The Macrophage presents the antigens on the surface to the helper T cell
Come enjoy this antigen helper T cell!
helper T cell
Cool
Macrophage
The helper T cell connects to the Macrophage and then becomes activated now able to activate and help the rest of the immune system
3, 2, 1 connect!
helper T cell
Now its time to activate the rest of the immune system!
The T cell appears from the blood, connects and activates to the helper T cell differentiating clones of killer T cells for later use and more memory T cells for antigens for future immune defense
helper T cell
Killer T cell lets connect!
killer T cell
killer T cell
Memory T cell
The killer T cell goes to the infected cell, connects and shoots perforin into the cell which makes holes in the cell membrane causing it to burst leading to destruction
killer T cell
Lets kill this infected cell!
Cell
Killer T cell
The cell gets destroyed along with the pathogen
Yes! we just destroyed a cell with a pathogen in it