Immunology 10 (Kyle ... WTF how many more are there) Flashcards Preview

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Flashcards in Immunology 10 (Kyle ... WTF how many more are there) Deck (36)

Are protein - protein reactions reversible ?

Yes all of them


What is affinity ?

The strength of binding on 1 site of a molecule to its ligand


What is avidity ?

The strength of binding of multiple sites of a molecule to its ligand


What are Agarose Gel - Based Antibody Assays, and what are two important types?

Simple assays that take advantage of the fact that when Ab's bind to an antigen the complex precipitates.
Immunodiffusion and Immunoelectrophoresis


What is immunodiffusion and what is it good for?

Immunodiffusion can detect antibody specific for a particular antigen and is useful for simple antigen mixtures only


What is immunoelectrophoreses and what is ti good for ?

Involves electrophoretic separation of antigens and can be used for more complex antigen mixtures


What are some problems with Immunoelectrophoresis?

The sensitivity is poor and it is non-quantitative


What are the three steps of immunoelectrophoresis?

1. Serum samples are added to an immunoelectrophoresis plate
2. Serum components are separated by electrophoresis.
3. Rabbit anti-human serum is added to the central trough and diffuses into the plate forming precipitin lines.


What is nephelometry used for ?

It is used to determine levels of IgM, IgG, and IgA from a serum plasma sample.


What is Titer ?

The quantity of a substance required to react or to correspond to a given amount of another substance.


What is Ab Titer?

Is a measurement of how much Ab an organism has produced that recognizes a particular antigen, expressed as the greatest dilution ratio that still gives a positive result.


What is aggulation titer?

The highest dilution of a serum which causes clumping of microorganisms or other particulate antigens


What is serial dilution?

Repeated dilution of a sample by the same dilution of a sample by the same dilution factor, typically performed in a microtiter plate.


What is Hemagglutination ?

The agglutination of red blood cells caused by an antibody either for red blood cell antigens or for antigens that coat red blood cells or by the presence of viruses or other microbes.


What is Direct Coomb's Test ?

A test to detect Ab's or complement proteins on the surface of RBC's collected directly from a patient.


In the Direct Coomb's Test what will indicate autoimmune helolytic anemia?

Ab or complement proteins bound to RBC's


What is characterized by production of autoantibodies specific for RBC surface components?

Autoimmune disease


What is the Coomb's reagent



What is the indirect Coomb's test?

It is used to detect very low concentrations of RBC-specific AB's present in a patients plasma / serum


What is the indirect Coomb's test used for?

Used for Cross matching prior to blood transfusions.

Used to detect atypical Ab's in the serum of pregnant women.


What is a monospot test ?

A hemagglutination test that is diagnostic for Epstein-Barr virus (infectous mononucleosis)


What is a monospot test used for ?

Tests for Ab's that agglutinate sheep RBC's (Known as heterophil Ab's)

Similar to indirect Coomb's except that sheep RBC's are used as the indicator cell


What is a clone ?

A cell population that has descended from a single cell. are are essentially identical to the mother cell.


With regard to antigens what does "mono" mean?

Single, in this case, with a single antigen specificity


What is Hybridoma ?

A cloned hybrid cell line (B cell fused to a tumor cell) that produces antibody against a specific antigenic determinant.


What is a monoclonal Antibody ?

A preparation of antibodies that was produced by a cloned hybridoma; each Ab molecule is identical


What is a primary antibody ?

A test sample that may or may not contain Ab specific for a particular antigen


What is a secondary antibody ?

An Ab that will detect the primary Ab; Typically conjugated to an indicator molecule


What is convalescent Serum?

Serum from a person who has recuperated from a particular infection, e.g.. scarlet fever, which may be of use in treating a person with the same infection .


What is acute phase serum?

Serum collected from the blood of a patient what is actively infected with a pathogen


What is acute phase serum characterized by ?

An increase in IgM and a decrease in IgG pathogenic-specific antibody levels.


How can antibodies be used as immunological tools?

They can be covalently linked to a variety of molecules that allow easy detection of Ab's bound to their specific antigen.


What can Ab's be linked to ?

Radionucleotides (125 I)
Enzymes- detected with chromogenic substrates


What are the advantages of Western Blot Analysis ?

-Purified Ag and / or Ab not required
-Very sensitive
-Low Throughput


What is an enzyme linked Immunosorbent Assay? What are the advantages ?

Quantitative measure of Ab specificity
Very Sensitive
High Throughput


Which of the following assays could not be used to determine the amount of antigen specific Ab in a serum sample ?
1. Coomb's assay
2. Indirect coomb's Assay
3. Complement Fixation Assay
4. Western Blot

4. Western blot is not a quantitative assay.