Ch 18 Practical Applications of Immunology

Question 1

what is a vaccine?

Answer 1

contains inactive/weakened versions of organisms or fractions of organisms used to induce immunity

Question 2

what is immunity?

Answer 2

Ability of an organism to resist a particular infection or toxin

Question 3

How are monoclonal antibodies different from what is produced in the human body? (hint: the human body produces polyclonal antibodies)

Answer 3

monoclonal antibodies: producing antibodies, proliferating and are also undying

polyclonal antibodies: Can only do undying OR proliferate antibodies (not both)

Question 4

How are monoclonal antibodies formed?

Answer 4

Combination of “immortal” cancerous B cell + antibody producing normal B cell

Formed in a lab setting

Question 5

What is molecular mimicry? How does this phenomenon make working with antibodies difficult?

Answer 5

When two very different antigens share a common epitope

This can even occur between a pathogen and a self cell’s antigen creating autoimmune reactions (attacking the self cell, by mistaking it for the pathogen it mimicked)

Question 6

What is seroconversion?

Answer 6

Time period during which a specific antibody
develops and becomes detectable in the
blood

Question 7

What is a titer?

Answer 7

Concentration of serum antibody (high titer = greater immunity to disease)

Question 8

What does the abbreviation ELISA stand for?

Answer 8

Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay

Question 9

What are the two basic types of ELISAs?

Answer 9

direct ELISA
indirect ELISA

Question 10

Describe direct ELISA

Answer 10

Detects antigens

sandwich of antibody/drug/enzyme-linked antibody

Question 11

describe indirect ELISA

Answer 11

detects antibodies

sandwich of virus/antibody/enzyme-linked-anti-HISG

Question 12

You should know in general why we give a vaccine and the importance of them

Answer 12

there are minimal risks of getting vaccines, but the benefits will always outweigh the risks. the benefits being that the ultimate goal of vaccines is to reduce severity of disease and reduce death rates.

Question 13

what is involved in a live attenuated vaccine?

Answer 13

uses a living pathogen with reduced virulence (is weakened)

Question 14

What vaccine type uses a weakened version of the pathogen?

Answer 14

Live attenuated vaccine

Question 15

Which two types of vaccines use the entire pathogen? These are called cellular vaccines

Answer 15

1. Live attenuated use the entire pathogen- it is just a weakened version
2. Inactivated killed vaccine use the entire pathogen- it is just killed used chemicals, the entire pathogen is injected and cannot replicate in the body.

Question 16

Why is a live attenuated vaccine more effective at eliciting strong immune responses and good memory?

Answer 16

• Live attenuated vaccines use a weakened version of the pathogen.
• This means the organism is still alive and able to replicate in the host but not cause disease.
• Since it replicates in the host it will activate both the humoral (B cells) and the cellular (T cells) branches of the adaptive immune system.
• Producing memory cells from both B and T cells will allow for a more robust response if you ever encounter the pathogen again

Question 17

Which types of vaccines DO NOT use the entire pathogen? These are called acellular vaccines.

Answer 17

All the other vaccines besides live attenuated and inactivated killed. So, subunit (toxoids, conjugated etc.) and nucleic acid

Question 18

what is involved with subunit vaccines?

Answer 18

contain only selected antigen fragments either by use of bacteria/viral components or recombinant vaccines

Question 19

what are recombinant vaccines?

Answer 19

type of subunit vaccine which are created by genetically modifying a nonpathogenic microbe to produce an antigenic fraction

Question 20

what are the types of subunit vaccines?

Answer 20

• recombinant vaccines
• conjugated vaccines
• toxoids
• virus-like particle vaccines

Question 21

Why is it necessary to offer a conjugated vaccine?

Answer 21

Since children are still developing their immune systems- they might have a weak response to certain antigens. A conjugated vaccine attaches a small antigen with a larger stronger antigen as a carrier. This will elicit a stronger immune response than if the smaller antigen was introduced by itself

Question 22

which types were nucleic acid vaccines?

Answer 22

mRNA and the viral vector vaccines.

For example: Pfizer and Moderna Covid-19 Vaccines are mRNA and Johnson and Johnson is a viral vector vaccine. Both utilize nucleic acids as a major component of the vaccine that will transcribe and translate a specific protein (for covid-19: the spike protein) that will elicit an immune response, producing memory B and T cells.

Question 23

What is heard immunity?

Answer 23

resistance to the spread of an infectious disease within a population that is based on pre-existing immunity of a high proportion of individuals as a result of previous infection or vaccination.

Question 24

How would you explain the important of vaccines to a patient?

Answer 24

Vaccines help train the immune system to create a memory of the pathogen so that if it is ever encountered again, the immune system can destroy it before a person gets sick. If people get vaccinated enough it will create herd immunity which prevents the spread of more viruses. THe benefits outweigh the risks of getting vaccinated

Question 25

what types of vaccines Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson and Johnson fall under for SARS-CoV-2?

Answer 25

mRNA - Pfizer and Moderna Covid-19 Vaccines

viral vector vaccines - Johnson and Johnson

Both utilize nucleic acids as a major component of the vaccine that will transcribe and translate a specific protein (for covid-19: the spike protein) that will elicit an immune response, producing memory B and T cells.

Question 26

What type of ELISA test is used for an at-home COVID test?

Answer 26

Direct ELISA

Question 27

An HiV test is what kind of ELISA test?

Answer 27

Indirect ElISA

Question 28

An ELISA test can be direct or indirect. Give an example of what an ELISA test might screen for (3 examples)

Answer 28

1. Drugs
2. Pregnancy
3. SARS-Cov-2

Question 29

What concerns might the parents have regarding vaccine safety?

Answer 29

Parents might be concerend that the vaccine could make their child sick, have bad side effects, allergic reaction, cause autisim

Question 30

True or False
In a vaccine preperation, the term “attenuated” means that the agent does NOT replicate

Answer 30

False