Antigen Recognition: A lymphocyte recognizes and binds to a specific antigen through its unique receptor. Activation: The binding of the antigen to the receptor activates the lymphocyte. Proliferation: The activated lymphocyte undergoes rapid cell division, producing a clone of cells that have the same antigen specificity. Differentiation: The cloned cells differentiate into effector cells, which carry out the immune response, and memory cells, which provide long-term immunity.
