Skip to main content

The production of antibodies and their roles

 

Antibodies are the defending soldiers of the immune system. In the context of biological science they are identified to be the Y - shaped protein structures that fight against the pathogens (foreign invaders). These biochemical protein structures are produced by a specific group of immune cells called the lymphocytes. The two types of lymphocytes associated with the production of antibodies are called the Helper T-cells and the B-cells.

Before moving further, we should know that the defensive fight between the pathogen and antibodies occurs based on the chemical interaction between the protein structures on the surface. This binding surface protein is known as the active site. The particular name for an active site of a pathogen is known as an antigen. 

When a pathogen enters the bloodstream it is consumed by a macrophage. This macrophage is another immune cell called the phagocyte, it functions to engulf the pathogen and digest some parts of its body. As the process of digestion occurs within the macrophage, the active site of the pathogen or the antigen is separated and moved to the surface of the macrophage. This process is known as the antigen presentation because the proteins are being ‘presented’ to other cells. Now the Helper T-cells with matching receptors come in and bind with the presented antigens on the macrophages, and are activated. This activation leads to division of two clone cells. One clone is of active helper T-cells, which are required for the next step in the process, and the other clone is of memory cells, which will be used if the same pathogen ever invades the body again.

The B-cells are the one's that produce the matching Y-shaped antibody protein. They are activated with the help of the helper T-cells. Just like the T-cells, the B-cells also divide after activation into two clone cells. One is made up of active B-cells, or plasma cells, which secrete huge quantities of antibodies into the bloodstream. The second clone is made up of memory cells. After the antibodies are produce in the bloodstream they bind to the antigen on the macrophage and destroy them. Specific antibodies bind to specific antigen. Once the pathogens is destroyed the process restarts with the macrophages to detect and consume more pathogens.

The memory cells remain within the body to give the organism immunity to that pathogen in the future. This series of antibody production can be seen in the figure below.



The below figure suggests the modes of action of antibodies against pathogens. 
(Source : Oxford IB Biology book, 2014)


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Molecular Docking

Molecular docking is a method of studying the interaction between two molecules known as receptor molecules and the ligand molecule. The purpose of this method of docking is to predict the structure of the complex formed after the interaction of the ligand and receptor molecule through computation method. To understand further it is necessary to know what are a ligand and a receptor molecule, in common terms they are both proteins. The receptor molecule is often justified as a small protein molecule that is mobile with the body system such as hormones, enzymes and so. Whereas the ligand molecule is a bigger protein complex with different combinations of proteins bonded together having different protein receptors within them.  This method of docking is a combination of different algorithms functioning together to compute the ligand-receptor interaction in all conformational sites possible of the protein.  Throughout this docking, the basic concept of geometrical and chemical matching ar
Post a Comment
Read more

COVID-19 vaccines and how they boost immunity

One of the fastest vaccines to be ever developed was for the COVID 19 virus, and along, a-raised a lot of fabricated deception. There are a lot of people around world dying due to COVID 19, mainly because of the fear to take the vaccines. It is very important to understand the working of these vaccines.  So without any delay let's first understand how many vaccines are there and how they function to boost immunity.  The below is the list of the currently authorised vaccines used for COVID 19 and their vaccine type. To know about the vaccines and types refer to the previous article on  Vaccines and their functioning.  Comirnaty (mRNA based vaccine) Moderna COVID 19 (mRNA based vaccine)  Covishield (Adenovirus vaccine)   Sputnik (Recombinant adenovirus vaccine) COVID 19 vaccine Janssen (non-replicating viral vector) CoronaVac (Inactivated vaccine) BBIBP-CorV (Inactivated vaccine) EpiVacCorona (Peptide / Subunit Vaccine) Convidicea (Recombinant vaccine from adenovirus type 5 vector) 
Post a Comment
Read more