Secondary Immune Response...

Cheman

Why is the secondary immune response so much faster and so much greater than the primary immune response to a pathogen?

Thanks in advance.

iansmith

Cellular memory.
The first response needs to create the proper cell line to fight the invader and also the body does not recognize the pathogen immediatly. Once the cells have been created, there is always a memory cells that will be able to recognize the invader immediatly and the response will be iniated quikly.

Monique

That's right, memory B and T cells are created after infection that are able to respond rapidly to restimulation with the same antigen, they also have the ability to transfer immune memory to naive recipients.

Memory B cells have already undergone isotype switching and somatic hypermutation, leading to a fast response with antibodies with increased affinity for the antigen.