Immunization and Immune testing

Question 1

hemagglutination

Answer 1

clumping of RBC, reaction of antibody with antigen on surface of RBC

Question 2

Define vaccine. What is the origin of the word?

Answer 2

Suspension of microbes or subparts of a microbe that is used to develop immunity against disease. Comes from vaca/cow in latin

Question 3

Describe the viral hemagglutination test.

Answer 3

proteins that are present on the surface of viruses can bind to and clump red blood cells

Question 4

How do precipitation and agglutination usually differ with respect to the solubility of the antigen?

Answer 4

Precipitation is better with soluble and agglutination is better with insoluble

Question 5

Describe passive immunotherapy. How is it different from vaccination?

Answer 5

Antibodies are injected into the body not created by person such as in vaccination. Provides a lower level and shorter term level of protection.

Question 6

antitoxin

Answer 6

contains antibodies against particular toxin (tetanus)

Question 7

immunodiffusion

Answer 7

antigens and antibodies diffuse toward each other in agar. Lines show up to show interaction

Question 8

monoclonal antibodies

Answer 8

Antibodies specific for a particular epitope rather than a mixture of antibodies.

Question 9

inactivated whole-agent vaccine

Answer 9

dead antigen but surface antigens are still intact. More boosters required because of a weaker immune response. (salk polio, Hep A, injected influenza)

Question 10

Distinguish between direct and indirect agglutination

Answer 10

direct- large clumps, antigens are large and cellular. Antigen directly clumping with antibodies
indirect- antigen does not agglutinate itself so it is attached to a latex bead, which attached to antibodies.

Question 11

Compare and contrast the Salk and Sabin polio vaccines.

Answer 11

Salk: inactivated whole agent, injected, low risk, does not provide life long immunity
Sabin: attenuated, ingested, high risk, provides life long immunity

Question 12

Distinguish between direct and indirect fluorescent antibody tests

Answer 12

Direct: detecting the presence of antigen, lights up with antigen
indirect: looking for antibodies, second antibody with fluorescent tag binds to the antibody that binds to the antigen.

Question 13

Describe variolation.

Answer 13

treating with scrapings from small pox scabs to prevent disease.

Question 14

recombinant vaccines (4 types)

Answer 14

1. molecular techniques used to produce less virulent attenuated strains
2. antigen manufactured inside of a recombinant cell such as yeast
3. DNA that codes for an antigen can be combined with a viral genome for presentation of the antigen on the surface of the virus (adenovirus)
4. plasmid vectors can be used to generate a hybrid cell that presents the antigen on the surface of the cell

Question 15

antivenin

Answer 15

special type of antitoxin for animal venom

Question 16

Describe the direct (antibody sandwich) ELISA and indirect ELISA tests.

Answer 16

direct: looking for antigen, antibody in the bottom of the well, antigen binds, a second antibody with enzyme-linked binds to antigen. (HIV, pregnancy)
indirect: looking for antibody, antigen in the bottom of the well, antibody sticks to antigen, second antibody with enzyme sticks to first antigen.

Question 17

Distinguish between serology and seroconversion.

Answer 17

serology: immune testing that tests for presence of antigen or antibodies
seroconversion: a change in serum going from not positive to positive for antibody

Question 18

Describe the Western blot test.

Answer 18

uses same principles as ELISA but antigens are separated out by electrophoresis and then transferred to nitrocellulose.

Question 19

toxoids

Answer 19

inactivated toxins (tetanus and diptheria)

Question 20

hybridomas

Answer 20

fusion of plasma cell and myeloma (cancer cell) used to make monoclonal antibodies

Question 21

How is herd immunity usually defined? How does it prevent epidemics?

Answer 21

Vaccination of the masses (ideally 90%) to limit the number of susceptible individuals to prevent epidemics.

Question 22

combination vaccines

Answer 22

multiple antigens administered at the same time (MMR and TDAP)

Question 23

attenuated vaccines

Answer 23

live microbe that is weakened or mutated. Gives a strong immune response but can cause mild version of the disease (sabin polio, MMR, chicken pox, rotavirus)

Question 24

antiserum

Answer 24

Antibodies collected from animal injected with antigen. Contains a variety of antibodies that recognize various epitopes. Polyclonal antibodies

Question 25

precipitin ring test

Answer 25

add antibodies to test tube
carefully layer antigens over antibodies
allows each to diffuse toward each other
a zone of equivalence is formed where precipitation occurs

Question 26

subunit vaccines

Answer 26

piece of microbe used in vaccine, acellular. Produced by recombinant DNA techniques.