Antibodies Flashcards
What type of cells are antibodies?
Immunoglobulins.
What are antibodies produced by?
B cells as part of humoral immunity.
What do antibodies target?
Circulating microbes and toxins.
What happens when antibodies identify their target?
They bind the microbe and prevent further infection of cells.
What type of immunity can antibodies provide?
Active and passive immunity.
What happens when antibodies are bound to their target?
Macrophages pick up the fact it is antigen bound and remove the toxin from the body.
What is the difference between active and passive immunity?
Active immunity is the idea of the body creating antibodies itself, whereas passive immunity is the idea that antibodies are injected into the body directly.
What is the basic unit of an antibody composed of?
Two heavy and two light chains that are joined by disulfide bonds.
What does each chain in the antibody structure contain?
Several Ig domain repeats, variable and conserved regions and joining and diversity regions.
How many classes of antibody are they and what are they defined by?
There are 5, and these are determined by the heavy chain class - IgM, IgD, IgA, IgE, IgG.
How do the different antibody classes vary?
IgM - first to be produced, IgD - naive B cell antigen recognition, IgA - epithelial/mucosal immunity, IgE - helminthic parasites and immediate hypersensitivity, IgG - secondary exposure, neonatal immunity.
