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Dr. Taha Abdul-Aziz saeid kaid

Assistant professor of
Microbiology and Medical Immunology

‫مكتبة العامرية للخدمات الطالبية‬

770489955-‫المتكاملة ت‬
 Introduction:
 The word antigen is a shortened form of the words “antibody
generator.”
 Antigens are substances that react with antibodies, while
immunogens are molecules that induce an immune response.
 In most cases, antigens are immunogens,
 The term immunogenicity means the ability of an antigen to
elicit an immune reaction in the form of a B-cell or T-cell
response,
 whereas the term antigenicity means just the ability to
combine specifically with the products of the above
responses.
 Not all the antigen molecule is antigenic, only small
parts of the molecule can bind antigen receptors and
induce IR.
 These parts are called epitopes or antigenic
determinants.
 Each may be composed of few amino acids, 4-6, or
monosaccharide residues.
 One antigen molecule may contain several
epitopes, each can combine with specific antigen
receptor.
 A number of factors have been identified that make a substance
immunogenic. Some of the important determinants of antigenicity
include:
 1. Molecular size
 2. Foreignness
 3. Chemical-structural complexity
 4. Stability
 5. Other factors:
 Biological system
 Dosage and route of the antigen
 Adjuvants
 In general, protein molecules with large molecular weight
are highly antigenic.
 Substances with molecular weights of about 100,000 Da and
more are highly immunogenic,
 while substances with molecular weights of less than 5000
Da are generally not immunogenic.
 To be immunogenic, a molecule must be recognized as
non-self, i.e., foreign.
 Such as:
Bacteria, Virus, protozoa, fungi and any particles
 Foreignness implies ability of the host to tolerate self-
antigens.
 The Chemical Nature Of Immunogens:
1. Proteins.
2. Polysaccharides.
3. Nucleic acids.
4. Lipids.

 Proteins are the most potent immunogens followed

by polysaccharides.
 Nucleic acids and lipids are not efficient in
eliciting a good immune reaction
 Highly stable and non-degradable substances are not
immunogenic.
 e.g.,
 Some Plastics,
 Metals,
 Or Chains Of D-amino Acids.
 Unstable substance are very immunogenic. (Why)
 In addition, large, insoluble complexes are more
immunogenic than smaller, soluble ones. (Why)
 Biological system:
 Biological system also plays an important role in determining the
immunological efficiency of an antigen.
 Some substances are immunogenic in one individual but not in others (i.e.,
responders and non-responders).
Dosage and route of the antigen
 Very low doses of antigen do not stimulate immune
response

 Adjuvants
 The antigens can be given by:
 (a) intravenous,
 (b) subcutaneous,
 (c) intradermal,
 (d) intramuscular,
 (e) intraperitoneal,
 and (f) mucosal routes.
 Usually, the subcutaneous route of administration
proves to be better than intravenous routes at
eliciting an immune response.
 Adjuvants: are the substances that when mixed
with an antigen and injected with it boost the
immunogenicity of the antigen.
 Adjuvants increase both the strength and the
duration of immune response.
 Example:
 Aluminum Potassium Sulfate (alum)
 And Freund’s water-in-oil
There are 2 types of Ags that can bind BCR:

A. T-cell-independent Ag (TI-Ag):
- Can activate B cells without the help of T
cells. No memory cells are produced.
- Fall into 2 types:
1- TI- 1 Ag:
- these Ags the property that at high
concentration can activate large number of B
cells both specifically and non-specifically
(polyclonal B cell activators).
Cont. TI- Ags:
- Typically, TI-1 Ags are bacterial cell wall
components as LPS of gm-ve bacteria.
- TI-1 Ags can also activate macrophages
which secrete IL1 and TNF.
2- TI-2 Ag:
- highly repetitive polymeric Ags as
polysaccharides from bacterial cell wall or
polymeric proteins as bacterial flagella.