Cellular and molecular interactions determining whether antigen signals the activation or inactivation of CD4 T cells

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The immune system exists in all vertebrates and provides a sophisticated defense against invaders. It has the remarkable property of being able to fight these invaders in a very specific way, such that the immune response to one virus, say, is only effective against this virus and not another virus. This is the property of specificity. The interaction of the recognition molecules of the immune system and the invader is often likened to the interaction of a key with its lock. Secondly, the immune system appears to be able to fight every invader it encounters. This property is called universality. Specificity and universality can be likened to a key shop, that has keys on hand able to open every lock in the world, even those not yet invented! Molecules able to be recognized by these specific molecules are called antigens.