Adaptive immunity

Adaptive (=’able to adapt’ or ‘able to learn’) immunity involves building up memory of previous infections to be able to mount an enhanced response specific to the pathogen.

These processes occur in special structures in your body called lymph nodes, which are scattered across your body, and in the spleen, an organ inside your left rib cage, just above the stomach.

Adaptive immunity involves antibodies, which are produced by B-cells. In addition to B-cells, there are different types of T-cells, some of which can directly kill infected cells while others help control the antibody response.

The ability of B-cells and T-cells to learn from previous infections is needed for long-term memory. This memory is exploited by vaccination.