ANTIGEN – does not have the capacity to elicit  Foreigness – antigen must be foreign to

antibody production and T-cell activation. produce antibodies against that

antigen.
IMMUNOGEN – capacity stimulate antibody
o Autoimmunity disease
production or activation of T-cell
o The more foreign, the more
BOTH can bind to antibody or T-cells immunogenic (capability of
antigen to stimulate antibody
FACTORS INFLUENCING THE IMMUNE
production)
RESPONSE
o Pathogenic - Ability of a
 AGE – A newborn baby is microbe or antigen to cause an
immunocompromised; will only start infection.
producing his own antibodies when it o Remove the pathogenicity while
reaches 6 months old and up maintaining immunogenicity –
o As we grow older, we develop attenuation
the immune system  High molecular weight – substance
o As you grow much older, must be big.
immune system may o Minimum size of a substance to
deteriorate/ get weaker. identify as immunogen is
o May have natural passive >10,000 daltons
immunity  The higher, the more
 DOSE – will determine on how fast or immunogenic it is
soon we will be responding to antigen  Molecular/chemical complexity - The
and how fast to produce an antibody. more complex, the more immunogenic
o The higher the dose, the faster o Proteins and carbohydrate are
you will produce antibody the highest complexity of viral
 Route of Inoculation – if it is dna and rna
intravenous, it is the fastest because  Proteins – amino acids
the B lymphocytes are in the blood and  Carbohydrates –
will have contact with the antigen glucose
directly. (monosaccharide)
 Health status of the host – if you are  Glycoproteins
healthy, you are not prone to sick. Also  Glycolipids
determinant on how fast you acquire an  Lipids – fatty acids
infective disease  Nucleic Acid – poor
 Genetics – genes that they inherited. immunogen
o People in Africa have Fy(a-b-)  Digestability – substance must be
will not be affected to malaria digestible in order to process the
parasite antigen by the apc to present it on the
o Fair complexion (less melanin) mhc
is prone from skin cancer from  Availability and accessibility of reactive
the uv rays of the sun Sites –

CHARACTERISTICS OF AN IMMUNOGEN 2 MAIN PARTS

  Epitope – located on the hapten.
Antigenic determinant. May have
different specificities and repeating
units.
o The bigger part of the antigen is
the carrier. The smaller part is
the hapten.
o Number of epitope/binding
sites is called valence
o Every antibody monomer has 2
valence
 Hapten nonimmunogenic that gives the
antigen its specificity. Antibody will bind Added to vaccines
here specifically in the epitope.
 Carrier – responsible to give the antigen
its required size MHC – MAJOR HISTOCOMPATIBILITY COMPLEX

Types of antigens  A series of genes located in

chromosome #6, controls many traits
 Autoantigens/Self-Antigens – antigens
inside the human body
that belongs to the host. (HLA/blood
 Responsible for the production of HLA
group antigens)
they are being matched to organs or
 Alloantigen/Isoantigen – derived from
tissue during transplantation
the body of other individuals of the
 Produce substances that control the
same species. (HLA of another person)
interaction of immune cells
o When we receive alloantigen
 Products are mhc molecules like hla,
(blood transfusion, pregnancy,
mhc class 1 mole cule, mhc class 2
organ transplantation), we have
molecule and mhc class 3 molecule
alloantibodies

 Heteroantigen – derived from other
species (rabies, covid-19)
 Heterophile antigens – those that exist
in unrelated plants or animals but which
are either identical or closely related in
structure so that the antibody to one
will crossreact with antigen of the
other. (Polysaccharide type XIV of
Pneumococcus reacting with anti-A 
antisera

Thymus dependent – this antigen can only

stimulate antibody production there is the
presence of t cells
 Chromosome 15 mhc class 1 molecule
structure will not be complete

 Mhc must be present



 Pcr – gold standard in detecting HLA

(more sensitive)