Immunological Techniques Flashcards
When will an Ab bind to an Ag?
ONLY IF the antigenic binding site is specific for that Ag (lock and key).
Why can many antibodies bind with the same Ag?
Because an Ag has many different antigenic determinants
Can an Ab bind with another Ab?
Yes, the variable region of an Ab can bind with the constant region of another Ab if it is recognized as a foreign protein.
How can we make Ab?
Polyclonal Ab
1. Inject immunogen into animal
2. Given secondary immunization to produce higher titers of Ab against particular Ag
3. After immunization, polyclonal Ab can be obtained straight from the serum or purified to obtain a solution which is free from other serum proteins
Monoclonal Ab
1. Inject Ag into animal, multiple times
2. Once develops immune response, B-lymphocytes are isolated from the animal’s spleen and fused with a myeloma cell line creating immortalized B cell-myeloma hybridomas
3. Hybdridomas, which are able to grow continuously in culture while producing Ab are then screened for desired mAb
What is the difference between monoclonal and polyclonal Ab?
Monoclonal Ab have monovalent affinity and only recognize the same epitope (single site) of an Ag.
Polyclonal Ab can recognize multiple sites
What are the immunology techniques?
- Immunocytochemistry/immunohistochemistry
- Immunoassays
- Western Blotting/Immunoblotting
- Agglutination
- Flow Cytometry and fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS)
What is immunocytochemistry and immunohistochemistry?
An immunology technique that qualitatively studies Ag localization in cells (cyto) and tissues (histo)
What do we rely on to detect Ab-Ag interactions?
- An Ab with specificity for the Ag of interest
- Virus/bacteria (in infected cell/tissue)
- Cluster of differentiation (CD) Ag on a leukocyte: tumor Ag, proteins - Means to visualize the binding reaction that occurs and quantify it/localize it
What are the two primary methods to detect antigens?
- Direct
- One PRIMARY Ab against Ag
- Simple, rapid - Indirect - Multiple Ab
- PRIMARY against Ag, SECONDARY against Primary Ab
- Sequential incubations
- More sensitive & specific bc multiple secondary Abs can bind primary and amplify signal
What are immunoassays used for?
Quantifying Ag or Ab concentrations (i.e., cytokine/protein or specific Ab produced)
What are the 2 types of immunoassays?
- Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) color signal
- Rapid antigen test
What is the difference between direct and indirect ELISA?
Direct uses a primary conjugated Ab
Indirect ELISAs - an un-conjugated primary Ab binds to the Ag, then a labeled secondary Ab binds to the primary Ab
Is sandwich ELISA qualitative or quantitative?
Quantitative, it determines the amount of IL-2 in cell media against a standard curve of known concentrations
How does sandwich ELISA work?
- Immobilized capture Ab to Ag of interest (IL-2)
- Addition of cell media containing cytokines and growth factors - IL-2 binding during incubation
- Cell media is washed away
- Enzyme-conjugated Detection Ab is added-incubation: must recognize a different Ag determinant unbound detection Ab is washed away
- Substrate is added for time; reacts with enzyme to produce a coloured product
- Read on spectrophotometer
- The greater the concentration of Ag = increased amount of bound label = increased colour
- Can be quantified against a standard curve of known IL-2
What does the test efficacy of the rapid antigen test depend on?
- Appropriate window of time
- Appropriate amount of antigen
- Appropriate test sample