Antibody production and vaccination Topic 11.1 Biology HL
Fundamentals
➢ A pathogen is any causative agent of disease
➢ The immune system recognizes the cells as “self” or “non-self”
○ All body cells have a common set of plasma membrane proteins and these
are recognized as “self”
○ Leucocytes can identify pathogens by detecting glycoproteins on the surface
of the pathogen
○ If they don’t match with the body’s own cells, they’re referred to as
antigens (“non-self” molecules)
➢ These plasma proteins determine our blood type
○ Everyone has 2 blood types, the ABO and the rhesus (Rh) blood type
○ The ABO is based on the presence/absence of 2 proteins called A protein and
B protein
○ The Rh is based on the presence/absence of a protein called Rh protein
○ Patterns
■ Only the A protein ⇒ type A blood
■ Only the B protein ⇒ type B blood
■ Both the A and B protein ⇒ type AB blood
■ Neither A or B protein ⇒ type O blood
■ Has the Rh protein ⇒ Rh positive
■ Hasn’t the Rh protein ⇒ Rh negative
Steps of immune response
➢ Each type of B lymphocyte (plasma cells) is capable of synthesizing and secreting a
specific antibody that binds to a specific antigen
○ Leucocytes represent ~1% of all cells in the blood and they go through
cloning when it’s needed
➢ The phagocytic cells macrophages are part of the non-specific response
○ When they detect non-self cells they engulf them
○ The pathogen is partially digested and pieces of it are displayed on the cell’s
surface, which is called antigen presentation
➢ Other leucocytes called helper T cells identify the antigen and become activated
○ The antigen is now known and the immune response becomes specific
➢ The T cell chemically communicate with the specific B-type lymphocyte that can
produce the needed antibody
○ The B-lymphocytes become activated and start to rapidly divide
1
,Antibody production and vaccination Topic 11.1 Biology HL
■ This division is known as cell cloning because all the daughter cells
of these mitotic process are capable of producing the same antibody
➢ These cells then can differentiate into 2 types of cells
○ Plasma cells that can produce a lot of specific antibody needed
○ Long lived memory cells that don’t produce antibodies, but they remain in
the bloodstream at a high concentration waiting for subsequent infections
True immunity
➢ Antigen presentation, T- and B- cell activation and B-cell cloning are the event
that occur during a primary infection
➢ How serious the symptoms are depends on the speed of replication of the pathogen
and the type of tissue it’s damaging
➢ When a 2nd infection of the same pathogen occurs, the memory cells are capable of
responding very quickly
Antibodies
➢ Antibodies are protein molecules produce by plasma cell leucocytes in response to a
specific pathogen
➢ They’re “Y” shaped
➢ They have a region, sequences of amino acids, that’s constant for all antibodies
➢ Another region, called binding site , is variable with 2 specific sequences of amino
acids able to form intermolecular bonds with a specific antigen
➢ The antibodies attach to the antigens of the pathogen
○ Marking it for destruction by other cells of the immune system
○ Binding many pathogens to each other making them easier to engulf by the
macrophages
○ Recruiting other cells and proteins to fight it
➢ Each pathogen usually has a few different antigens, so a few different antibodies
are produced, called polyclonal antibodies
Vaccination
➢ One of the fundamental principles of immunity is that an organism can’t be
immune to a pathogen before being exposed to it at least once
➢ A vaccine is typically composed of the chemical components of a pathogen after
eliminating the disease-causing abilities of the pathogen causing a primary
immune response to take place and memory cells to form
2
, Antibody production and vaccination Topic 11.1 Biology HL
➢ They don’t prevent an infection, but the secondary immune response is quicker and
results in higher antibody production
➢ Smallpox was the first disease totally removed from Earth by the help of
vaccination
➢ Diseases are battled using epidemiological data
○ Ex: the global distribution of polio
○ Used to help for example, the planning of vaccination programs
Diseases and species
➢ Diseases are often species specific
➢ Viruses are specialized to infect only one species by protein recognition in the
plasma membrane, but in rare cases, disease can also cross from one species to
another
○ A protein match must occur
○ The virus can also mutate
○ Ex: HIV, Ebola, SARS, H1N1
➢ It’s more common for diseases resulting from bacteria and fungi to cross species
barriers
○ Ex: tuberculosis, salmonella, ringworm
Monoclonal antibodies
➢ A primary immune response by an organism is called a polyclonal response
➢ The capsid (protein coat) of a virus is made up of several different kinds of protein
each of which can cause an immune response
➢ Monoclonal antibodies are “pure” antibodies all of the same type
➢ Process:
○ Injection of an antigen into a lab animal
○ The animal is given time to go through a primary immune response
○ The spleen of the animal is “harvested” in order to obtain many blood cells
○ Leucocytes cloned for the antigen will be be part of cellular population
within the spleen
■ There are 2 problems
● Keeping the B-cell type alive for an extend period of time
● Identifying the B-cell type that produces the antibody that
recognizes the desired antigen
○ The B-cells are kept alive by fusing them with cancerous (myeloma) cells
3
Fundamentals
➢ A pathogen is any causative agent of disease
➢ The immune system recognizes the cells as “self” or “non-self”
○ All body cells have a common set of plasma membrane proteins and these
are recognized as “self”
○ Leucocytes can identify pathogens by detecting glycoproteins on the surface
of the pathogen
○ If they don’t match with the body’s own cells, they’re referred to as
antigens (“non-self” molecules)
➢ These plasma proteins determine our blood type
○ Everyone has 2 blood types, the ABO and the rhesus (Rh) blood type
○ The ABO is based on the presence/absence of 2 proteins called A protein and
B protein
○ The Rh is based on the presence/absence of a protein called Rh protein
○ Patterns
■ Only the A protein ⇒ type A blood
■ Only the B protein ⇒ type B blood
■ Both the A and B protein ⇒ type AB blood
■ Neither A or B protein ⇒ type O blood
■ Has the Rh protein ⇒ Rh positive
■ Hasn’t the Rh protein ⇒ Rh negative
Steps of immune response
➢ Each type of B lymphocyte (plasma cells) is capable of synthesizing and secreting a
specific antibody that binds to a specific antigen
○ Leucocytes represent ~1% of all cells in the blood and they go through
cloning when it’s needed
➢ The phagocytic cells macrophages are part of the non-specific response
○ When they detect non-self cells they engulf them
○ The pathogen is partially digested and pieces of it are displayed on the cell’s
surface, which is called antigen presentation
➢ Other leucocytes called helper T cells identify the antigen and become activated
○ The antigen is now known and the immune response becomes specific
➢ The T cell chemically communicate with the specific B-type lymphocyte that can
produce the needed antibody
○ The B-lymphocytes become activated and start to rapidly divide
1
,Antibody production and vaccination Topic 11.1 Biology HL
■ This division is known as cell cloning because all the daughter cells
of these mitotic process are capable of producing the same antibody
➢ These cells then can differentiate into 2 types of cells
○ Plasma cells that can produce a lot of specific antibody needed
○ Long lived memory cells that don’t produce antibodies, but they remain in
the bloodstream at a high concentration waiting for subsequent infections
True immunity
➢ Antigen presentation, T- and B- cell activation and B-cell cloning are the event
that occur during a primary infection
➢ How serious the symptoms are depends on the speed of replication of the pathogen
and the type of tissue it’s damaging
➢ When a 2nd infection of the same pathogen occurs, the memory cells are capable of
responding very quickly
Antibodies
➢ Antibodies are protein molecules produce by plasma cell leucocytes in response to a
specific pathogen
➢ They’re “Y” shaped
➢ They have a region, sequences of amino acids, that’s constant for all antibodies
➢ Another region, called binding site , is variable with 2 specific sequences of amino
acids able to form intermolecular bonds with a specific antigen
➢ The antibodies attach to the antigens of the pathogen
○ Marking it for destruction by other cells of the immune system
○ Binding many pathogens to each other making them easier to engulf by the
macrophages
○ Recruiting other cells and proteins to fight it
➢ Each pathogen usually has a few different antigens, so a few different antibodies
are produced, called polyclonal antibodies
Vaccination
➢ One of the fundamental principles of immunity is that an organism can’t be
immune to a pathogen before being exposed to it at least once
➢ A vaccine is typically composed of the chemical components of a pathogen after
eliminating the disease-causing abilities of the pathogen causing a primary
immune response to take place and memory cells to form
2
, Antibody production and vaccination Topic 11.1 Biology HL
➢ They don’t prevent an infection, but the secondary immune response is quicker and
results in higher antibody production
➢ Smallpox was the first disease totally removed from Earth by the help of
vaccination
➢ Diseases are battled using epidemiological data
○ Ex: the global distribution of polio
○ Used to help for example, the planning of vaccination programs
Diseases and species
➢ Diseases are often species specific
➢ Viruses are specialized to infect only one species by protein recognition in the
plasma membrane, but in rare cases, disease can also cross from one species to
another
○ A protein match must occur
○ The virus can also mutate
○ Ex: HIV, Ebola, SARS, H1N1
➢ It’s more common for diseases resulting from bacteria and fungi to cross species
barriers
○ Ex: tuberculosis, salmonella, ringworm
Monoclonal antibodies
➢ A primary immune response by an organism is called a polyclonal response
➢ The capsid (protein coat) of a virus is made up of several different kinds of protein
each of which can cause an immune response
➢ Monoclonal antibodies are “pure” antibodies all of the same type
➢ Process:
○ Injection of an antigen into a lab animal
○ The animal is given time to go through a primary immune response
○ The spleen of the animal is “harvested” in order to obtain many blood cells
○ Leucocytes cloned for the antigen will be be part of cellular population
within the spleen
■ There are 2 problems
● Keeping the B-cell type alive for an extend period of time
● Identifying the B-cell type that produces the antibody that
recognizes the desired antigen
○ The B-cells are kept alive by fusing them with cancerous (myeloma) cells
3
