Antigen: Difference between revisions
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The word antigen comes from "[[Antibody|antibody]] generator" <ref>Alberts, Johnson, Lewis, Raff, Roberts and Walter (2008) Molecular Biology of The Cell, fifth edition, New York: Garland Science.</ref>. It is a foreign molecule that can be external from the environment, for example, bacteria, or internally such as bacterial toxins<ref>MedlinePlus. (2014). Antigen. (ONLINE) https://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/002224.htm [Accessed 20th October 2015)</ref>. Any molecule or part of a molecule that causes an immune response by binding with an [[Antibody|antibody]] or [[T-cell receptor|T-cell receptor]] is an antigen, for this reason they are important in immunisation as they can induce a highly specific [[Adaptive immune response|adaptive immune response]]. This occurs because of the activation of the [[Innate immune response|innate immune response]] which uses [[Antigen presenting cells]] (APCs), such as [[Macrophage|macrophages]] and [[Dendritic cells|dendritic cells]], to activate [[T-cells|T-cells]] <ref>Alberts, Johnson, Lewis, Raff, Roberts and Walter (2008) Molecular Biology of The Cell, fifth edition, New York: Garland Science.</ref>. Antigens have to be highly specific to the target antibodies due to the high numbers of antibodies that they will encounter, if not they will trigger the immune response and be destroyed, this response is always triggered for non-self antibodies <ref>Alberts, Johnson, Lewis, Raff, Roberts and Walter (2008) Molecular Biology of The Cell, fifth edition, New York: Garland Science.</ref>. | |||
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Latest revision as of 15:01, 21 October 2017
The word antigen comes from "antibody generator" [1]. It is a foreign molecule that can be external from the environment, for example, bacteria, or internally such as bacterial toxins[2]. Any molecule or part of a molecule that causes an immune response by binding with an antibody or T-cell receptor is an antigen, for this reason they are important in immunisation as they can induce a highly specific adaptive immune response. This occurs because of the activation of the innate immune response which uses Antigen presenting cells (APCs), such as macrophages and dendritic cells, to activate T-cells [3]. Antigens have to be highly specific to the target antibodies due to the high numbers of antibodies that they will encounter, if not they will trigger the immune response and be destroyed, this response is always triggered for non-self antibodies [4].
References
- ↑ Alberts, Johnson, Lewis, Raff, Roberts and Walter (2008) Molecular Biology of The Cell, fifth edition, New York: Garland Science.
- ↑ MedlinePlus. (2014). Antigen. (ONLINE) https://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/002224.htm [Accessed 20th October 2015)
- ↑ Alberts, Johnson, Lewis, Raff, Roberts and Walter (2008) Molecular Biology of The Cell, fifth edition, New York: Garland Science.
- ↑ Alberts, Johnson, Lewis, Raff, Roberts and Walter (2008) Molecular Biology of The Cell, fifth edition, New York: Garland Science.