Monoclonal Antibodies And Its Effects On Medicine

Antibodies are involved in the immune response. They're made up of two light polypeptide chains and two heavy polypeptide chains bonded together. Antibodies have a variable region which acts in a similar way to the active site of an enzyme. Each antibody has a variable region that is the complementary shape for a particular antigen and

To fight of viruses, each of them have a special antibody formed to kill that particular virus. To be able to fight them, we need to have more antibodies, so our body produces antibodies to protect itself.

An antigen is anything in the body the is non self which could include bacteria, viruses, chemicals or abnormal cell growth.

A substance used to stimulate the production of antibodies and provide immunity against one or several diseases, prepared from the causative agent of a disease, its products, or a synthetic substitute, treated to act as an antigen without inducing the disease.

Claiborne, Ron; Wright IV, Sydney (2010). "How One Woman's Cells Changed Medicine". ABC World News.

This, according to the clonal selection theory, the immune system functions on the “ready-made” rather than the “made-to-measure” principle. The question of how an animal makes so many different antibodies there for become a problem of genetics rather than one of protein chemistry” (Bowden 1006). This means that genetics determine how well the immune system works and this the key to figuring out a way to boost the immune system to help fight of infections and diseases before they even begin to weaken and infect the whole body. If someone decided they wanted to be immune to a snake bite or HIV the only thing that would have to be done is find one person just one that is immune and clone that person gene and add it to the other person who also wants to be immune to a certain disease, physical or chemical problem. “Scientist have grown replacement organs for sheep, rats and rabbits using the animal's own cells and alb molds to help the tissue take shape a technique that could be used someday to make spare parts for

The first important fact is that our body contains less than 30,000 genes and in order to build several antibodies, each gene needs to help in coding for several proteins that form these antibodies. I think it is very important to understand about how our DNA functions to better understand this process of building these antibodies. There are 3 billion pairs of nucleotides in our DNA and we also have 23 pairs of chromosomes where we receive one set from our mother and one from our father. What surprises me the most is that only less than 3% of our DNA contains instructions for cells that form us. The rest is referred to as junk DNA as they don’t play any role in our body. This DNA doesn’t code for anything, but forms a piece of evidence to show human’s relationship with bacteria and viruses. This helps in removing its name of junk DNA. Another concept that the chapter discusses about is Mutation which forms an important piece of knowledge when it comes to how changes have taken place on our DNA over time. Mutations could happen in two ways. One way could be where the DNA is not copied right and some minor errors are made. These errors are good

For six years, while at Broussais Hospital, he studied the reticuloendothelial’s function on immunity with Guido Biozzi. Due to the difficulties of finding research positions in France because he was considered a foreigner, he eventually moved back to New York to work as an Assistant Professor of Pathology at New York University School of Medicine. It was his work on immunogenetics that led to being awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1980. (Baruj Benacerraf - Biographical 2017)

Exponential Phase: at this stage there is a rise in the number of antibodies in the body because they are being secreted by a large number of plasma cells.

Vaccines are defined as a substance used to stimulate the production of antibodies and provide immunity against one or several diseases. Antibodies are proteins that detect harmful foreign substances called antigens. Antibodies can bind directly to antigens or stimulate other parts of the immune system to destroy the antigen. Each

Immunotherapy traces its origin to the immunization programs of the 1796, when scientists discovered that introducing toxins to the body caused the body to form antitoxins. Later on, it was discovered that antibodies could be formed to target a specific disease in the body. It was until 1987 when researchers discovered that cytotoxic T-lymphocyte 4th antigen (CTLA-4) prevented T (thymus associated) cells from attacking and destroying tumor cells. This discovery made a breakthrough in cancer treatment. Researchers created an antibody against the CTLA-4 that allowed the human immune system to attack and destroy tumorigenic cells in the body (Marraffini, 2010). This discovery formed the

Autoimmunity is the failure of the body’s defence system in recognizing its own constituent parts as self, as a result of which an immune response is generated against its own cells and tissues.

The researchers analysed data from a case control study conducted in three managed care organizations of 256 children with autism spectrum disease and 752 children matched on birth year, sex and managed care organization (MCO). A total of 1001 children were tested.

Antibody therapy is a widely researched area of immunotherapy. According to Encyclopedia Britannica, antibodies are “a protective protein produced by the immune system in response to the presence of a foreign substance, called an antigen. Antibodies recognize and latch onto antigens in order to remove them from the body” (4). Antibody therapy dates back to around 200 BC, where they

Studies has revealed that the generation of broadly neutralizing antibodies is the best way to control the progression of disease. Even though there are many evolutions, structural characterization may ultimately lead to the development of an effective broadly neutralizing antibody (Dennis R. Burton et al, 2012).