Antigen vs antibody – what is the difference?

3D illustration of antigen in the human body   What is the difference between antigen vs antibody, and what role do they play in creating an effective vaccine? With the recent focus on the development of a COVID-19 vaccine there has been much talk of antigens and antibodies, often interchangeably, and little clarity on what they are – or the role they play in creating an effective vaccine. In this blog, we’ll cut through the jargon and discover the facts together. Antigen An antigen is any substance or organism that is unrecognized by our immune system. It could be anything from bacteria to chemicals, to viruses … or even foods [1]. Antigens typically trigger an immune response, which may consist of an antibody (more on that later), and are classified by their origins [2]: Exogenous: entering from outside the body Endogenous: generated from within Autoantigens: proteins targeted in autoimmune diseases Neoantigens (or tumor antigens): resulting from tumor cells. Native antigens: An antigen which will later be processed by an antigen-presenting cell In some cases, these main types have subtypes – but we won’t get into an immunology lecture today. An antigen-presenting cell is a cell that processes and then presents the antigen to T-cells (a form of white blood cells), which can then ‘handle’ the antigen, often by killing the offending cell [3]. Your immune system has “memory” which allows the system to deal with the offending antigen much m...
Source: GIDEON blog - Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Tags: Examples News Therapy Source Type: blogs