Immunology and Viral Vaccines Lecture Notes

Flashcards covering the stages of immune response, T and B cell development, antigen types, antibody structure, and vaccine classifications from the lecture transcript.

Antigen

Any substance that may trigger an immune response, often proteins or polysaccharides from bacteria, viruses, fungi, or protists.

Immunogenic

Any antigen that can successfully trigger an immune response.

Immunogenicity

The ability of an antigen to trigger an immune response, which is impacted by size, overall molecular complexity, and chemical composition.

Haptens

Incomplete antigens consisting of small molecules, such as penicillin, that cannot cause an immune response on their own.

Antibody

A protein designed to recognize and bind to a specific antigen, which can be secreted by plasma cells or attached to a B cell.

Variable Regions (V)

Located at the ends of antibody arms, these areas are responsible for binding to the specific epitope on an antigen.

Constant Regions (C)

The sections that make up the stem of the antibody and remain consistent within each class of antibody.

Valence

The number of antigen-binding sites an antibody has.

Bivalent antibody

A monomer antibody that possesses two antigen-binding sites.

T cell Maturation

The process where T cells develop, which occurs in the thymus.

B cell Maturation

The process where B cells develop, initially in the fetal liver and then primarily in the red bone marrow.

Clonal Expansion

The proliferation of activated T and B cells during Stage 3 of the immune response.

Plasma cells

Effector B cells that differentiate from activated B cells to eliminate antigens.

Chickenpox Vaccine

A vaccine consisting of attenuated virus recommended for infants aged 12 months.

Hepatitis B Vaccine

A vaccine made of antigenic fragments of the virus recommended for infants, children, and high-risk adults.

Poliomyelitis Vaccine

A vaccine consisting of killed virus recommended for children.

Adjuvant

A substance, such as Alums or Monophosphoryllipid A, that enhances the effectiveness of vaccines.

Herd immunity

Indirect protection from infectious disease that occurs when a large percentage of a population is immune; it needs to be more than $20\%$ to be effective.