Immunology in the Clinic and Research Lab Flashcards
What is the general structure of an antibody?
β Two heavy chains and two light chains held together by disulfide bridges
What two parts can an antibody be divided into?
β Fab region
β Fc region
What does the Fab region bind to?
β Binds to antigens
β light chain binds to antigen epitopes via the CDR
What is an antibody repertoire?
β all the possible numbers of antibody binding sites
What is antibody affinity?
β the strength of a single interaction between the antibody and epitope
What is antibody avidity?
β sum of different affinities
What are the 5 functions of the Fc region?
β INteracts with the immune system - ADCC
β mediates antibody dependent cell mediated cytotoxicity - ADCC
β antibody dependent cellular phagocytosis - ADCP
β complement dependent cytotoxicity
β pharmacokinetics/half life
Describe how a polyclonal response occurs if you inject a mouse with an antigen?
β the antigen has many epitopes on it
β after a week an antibody response is generated to the antigen
β there are B cells that will produce antibodies to different epitopes of the antigen (polyclonal response)
β The B cells proliferate and form clones of themselves and secrete antibodies which are all the same specificity as the original B cell
Who invented monoclonal antibodies?
β Milstein and Kohler
Describe how monoclonal antibodies are made in a lab?
1) You take the antigen that you want antibodies against and inject it into a mouse
2) After a week or two weeks you harvest the B cells which make the antibody
3) The B cells are taken and are fused using polyethylene glycol with a cell-culture line of myeloma cells
4) The myeloma cells also lack the hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyl transferase (HGPRT) gene
5) After the fusion has occurred there is a mixture of cells : unfused B cells and myeloma cells, and fused cells called hybridomas
6) The next stage is trying to select for the hybridomas and remove the unfused cells
7) This is done using a selection called HAT (hypoxanthine-aminopterin-thymidine) selection
8) In HAT medium myeloma cells die as they cannot make nucleotides due to lack of HGPRT gene.
9) B have the gene but cells die as they have a short life span, only hybridomas grow and proliferate
10) Then there is a mixture of hybridoma cells which are diluted to individual cells
11) The cells are cultured individually they proliferate to form a clone of cells identical to the original parent
What are myeloma cells?
β immortal cells derived from a B cell tumor that do not produce antibodies themselves
What are monoclonal antibodies?
β antibodies that bind specifically to one epitope
How long can hybridomas be stored for?
β indefinitely
What are isotypic antibodies?
β polyclonal or monoclonal antibodies that bind to Fc regions of particular antibody classes e.g IgG or IgA
What is an assay?
β measures amount or concentration of antibody or antigen
What 2 enzymes are used as labels in assays?
β Horseradish peroxidase
β alkaline phosphatase
What is an example of a solid phase immunoassay?
β ELISA test
What are the three types of ELISA test?
β Direct
β Indirect
β Sandwich
What are direct/indirect ELISA tests used for?
β to quantify an antibody
What are sandwich ELISA tests used for?
β to quantify an antigen
How does a direct ELISA test work?
β The antigen is immobilised on a solid support
β the test antibody solution covalently linked to enzymes is added
β enzyme substrate is added and a colored product is produced which can be measured by absorbance
What are the two uses of the direct ELISA test?
β screen hybridoma supernatants
β detect exposure to an infectious agent
How does an indirect ELISA test work?
β Antigen immobilised on a solid suport
β primary antibody which binds to the antigen is added
β secondary antibody covalently attached to an enzyme is subsequently added
β the secondary antibody binds to the Fc region of the primary antibody
β the enzyme substrate is added and color is measured by absorbance
Why is an indirect ELISA used?
β the second antibody is often polyclonal so it can bind to different epitopes on a primary antibody
β this allows multiple secondary antibodies to bind to the same primary antibody
β this amplifies the signal and increases the sensitivity of the test
What is the sandwich ELISA used for?
β concentrating the antigen when the antigen is present in a low concentration
What is needed for a sandwich ELISA?
β Two antibodies reacting with different epitopes
How does a sandwich ELISA test work?
β One antibody is immobilised on a solid support
β the test antigen solution is added, incubated and non-bound antigen is removed by washing
β the bound antigen detected by incubation with the other antibody which has been labelled
β non bound removed by washing
What is the name of an immunoassay done to measure cytokine secretion?
β Elispot