1. What is the chemical nature of an antigen?

Most antigens have a large molecular weight and are chemically composed of
proteins or polysaccharides, but may also be lipids, polypeptides, or nuclear acids,
among others.

2. What is an “antigenic determinant”?

Epitope, also called antigenic determinant, portion of a foreign protein, or antigen that
is capable of stimulating an immune response. An epitope is the part of the antigen
that binds to a specific antigen receptor on the surface of a B cell.

3. What is the difference between T cells and B cells?

T lymphocytes are involved in cell-mediated immunity (CMI); B lymphocytes
differentiate into Ab-producing plasma cells. B lymphocytes express antibodies on
their surfaces that bind antigens. T lymphocytes express specialized T-cell receptors
on their surfaces that bind major histocompatibility complexes 1 (MHC-I) and 2
(MHC-II) complexed with antigenic peptide fragments.

4. What are the functions of the major histocompatibility complexes (MHC-I and MHC-
II) in programming the immune system?
The function of MHC molecules is to bind peptide fragments derived from pathogens
and display them on the cell surface for recognition by the appropriate T cells.

5. What is the anamnestic response? How does the anamnestic response evolve with
repeated challenges of vaccine or antigen?
The memory, or anamnestic response, is responsible for the extremely rapid
development of the immune response with subsequent challenges and is a hallmark of
acquired immunity. The chronology of vaccine development and use in the 20th
century is nothing short of a medical miracle. Diseases such as smallpox and polio,
 which once ravaged large populations, have become distant memories. The technique
of sensitizing a human immune system by exposure to an antigen so that an
anamnestic response is generated on subsequent exposure seems quite simple on the
surface. Hence, it is natural that a vaccine approach to preventing AIDS be tried. The
successes achieved so far have involved live/attenuated or killed whole-cell vaccines
and, in more recent times, recombinant coat proteins.

6. Describe the various types of vaccines.

There are three basic types of vaccine preparations that are used clinically:
a) simple vaccine contains one strain of a disease-causing organism (e.g., plague
vaccine, Pasteurella pestis, and smallpox vaccine).
b) multivalent vaccine is prepared from two or more strains of an organism that cause
the same disease (e.g., polio is trivalent).
Administration of the multiple strains is required for full protection because their
antigens are not cross-immunizing. The immune system must mount a separate
immune response to each strain.
c) A polyvalent vaccine is prepared from two or more organisms that cause different
diseases. Polyvalent vaccines are given for convenience, primarily so that a child can
be given one shot rather than several. The measles– mumps rubella (MMR) vaccine is
of the polyvalent type.

7. Describe the various ways that vaccines can be prepared.

a) Killed (Inactivated) Pathogen In this method, the normal pathogen is treated with a
strong, denaturing disinfectant like formaldehyde or phenol. The process denatures
the proteins and carbohydrates that are essential for the organism to live and infect a
host, but if treated properly, the surface antigens are left intact.

b) Live/Attenuated Pathogens the word attenuated for our purposes simply means
“low virulence.” The true pathogen is altered phenotypically so that it cannot invade
the human host and cannot get ahead of the host’s immune system. Low-
 pathogenicity strains such as these were originally obtained by passage of the
microbes through many generations of host animals.

c) Live/Attenuated Related Strain the live/attenuated related strain is antigenically

related so that it can provide cross-immunity to the pathogen. For example, the
cowpox virus can be used in place of the smallpox virus. The strains are antigenically
similar enough so that the host’s immune system reacts to the related strain to provide
protection against the normal pathogen.

d) Cellular Antigen from a Pathogen The surface antigen (i.e., what is recognized as
foreign) is harvested from the pathogen, purified, and reconstituted into a vaccine
preparation. These antigens can take several forms, including the carbohydrate
capsule, as in Neisseria meningitides; pili, as in N. gonorrhea; flagella from motile
bacteria (the basis for an experimental cholera vaccine); or the viral protein coat, as in
the vaccine for hepatitis B.

e) Genetically Engineered Pathogens 5 the techniques of genetic engineering have

allowed the pharmaceutical industry to prepare the pure surface antigens while
eliminating the pathogenic organism from the equation.

8. Why the smallpox vaccine is no longer recommended for general use?

Vaccination with the vaccinia virus as protection against smallpox is not
recommended for widespread use. No government gives or recommends the vaccine
routinely since it can cause serious complications and even death.

9. How do nucleic acid vaccines work?

Nucleic acid vaccines use genetic material from a disease-causing virus or bacterium
(a pathogen) to stimulate an immune response against it. Depending on the vaccine,
the genetic material could be DNA or RNA; in both cases, it provides the instructions
for making a specific protein from the pathogen, which the immune system will
recognize as foreign (an antigen). Once inserted into host cells, this genetic material
 is read by the cell’s own protein-making machinery and used to manufacture
antigens, which then trigger an immune response.

10. What is an adjuvant? How do adjuvants modify the immune response to an antigen?
An adjuvant is a drug or other substance, or a combination of substances that is used
to increase the efficacy or potency of certain drugs. Specifically, the term can refer to
Adjuvant therapy in cancer management. Analgesic adjuvant in pain management.
Immunologic adjuvant in vaccines. It induces the recruitment of various immune cells
to the site of injection, some of which then traffic the antigen to the draining lymph
nodes to induce specific immune responses.