5.5 - Antibodies

• What are antibodies ?

  Proteins with specific binding sites synthesised by plasma cells
• How many polypeptide chains are antibodies made up of ?

  4
• What are the 2 types of polypeptide chains in an antibody ?

  Heavy and light
• What does each antibody have that’s specific ?

  Antigen binding site
• Structure created when an antibody binds to an antigen ?

  Antigen-antibody complex
• What’s the top region of an antibody called ?

  Variable region
• Why is it called the variable region ?

  Binding site is different on different antibodies due to there different tertiary structure
• What’s the rest of the antibody called ?

  Constant region
• What bonds hold the heavy chains together ?

  Disulphide bridges
• What’s the region called that allows the heavy chains to bend ?

  Hinge region
• What does the constant region on an antibody bind to ?

  Receptors on cells
• What are the 2 ways that an antibody can lead to the destruction of the antigen on a bacterial cell ?

  Agglutination and phagocytosis
• What’s agglutination ?

  Clumping together of pathogens meaning they are easier for phagocytes to locate
• How to antibodies lead to the phagocytosis of bacterial cells ?

  Serve as markers that stimulate phagocytes to engulf the cell
• What’s a monoclonal antibody ?

  Antibodies produced by a single clone of a specific plasma cell
• How can mAb be used to target medication to specific cells types ? (2 steps)

  mAbs are produced that are specific to antigens on cell, a therapeutic drug is attached and injected into patient where they kill the target cells
• 2 uses of monoclonal antibodies in medicine ?

  Targeting medication, medical diagnosis
• 2 things that mAbs are used to diagnose ?

  Pregnancy, cancer
• Why do antigens binding to an antigen lesd to the destruction of the pathogen ?

  They block antigens
• 3 ethical issues related to mAbs ?

  Use of mice to collect mAbs, have been deaths and some risks, need to be tested on healthy volunteers which can suffer