1. What are the functions for primary lymphoid organs?

2. What are the functions for secondary lymphoid organs?

Part I IntroductionChapter 1. Overview of the Immune System

Chapter 2. Cells and Organs of the Immune System

Part II Generation of B-cell and T-cell Responses

Chapter 3. Antigens

本章大綱:

1. Immunogenicity Versus Antigenicity

2. Factors That Influence Immunogenicity

3. Epitopes

4. Haptens and the Study of Antigenicity

5. Pattern-Recognition Receptors

Immunogenicity vs Antigenicity

拉丁文 - immunis: exempt

英文- immunity:the state of protection from infectious disease

Immunogenicity: Immunogen

the ability to induce a humoral and/or cell-mediated immune response

Antigenicity: Antigen

the ability to combine specifically with Ab and/or cell-surface Ig/TCR

Antigens

March 4, 2003

Distinctive Membrane Molecules On Lymphocytes

B lymphocyte T lymphocyte

(T helper cell) (T cytotoxic cell)

- Although all molecules that have the property of immunogenicity also have the property of antigenicity, the reverse is not true.

- Haptens are antigenic but incapable, by themselves, of inducing a specific immune response.

Factors That Influence Immunogenicity

Contribution of the immunogen to immunogenicity:

- Foreighness- Molecular size- Chemical composition and heterogenicity- Susceptibility to antigen processing and presentation

Contribution of the biological system to immunogenicity:

- Genotype of the recipient animal- Immunogen dosage and route of administration- Adjuvants

Foreignness

-The greater the phylogenetic distance between two species, the greater the structural (and therefore the antigenic) disparity between them.

- Some macromolecules (e.g., collagen andcytochrome c) were highly conservedthroughout evolution and therefore displayvery little immunogenicity across diversespecies lines.

- Some self-components (e.g., corneal tissue and sperm) are effectively sequestered from the immune system, so that if these tissues are injected even into the animal from which they originated, they will function as immunogens.

Molecular size

- There is a correlation between the sizeof a macromolecule and its mmunogenicity.

- The best immunogens tend to have amolecular mass approaching 100,000 Da.

- Generally, substances with a molecularmass less than 5,000 – 10,000 Da are poor immunogens.

Chemical composition and complexity

- Synthetic homopolymers tend to lack immunogenicity regardless of their size.

- All 4 levels of protein organization – primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary – contribute to the structural complexity of a protein and hence affect its immunogenicity.

4 levels of protein organizational structure

• Lipid

• Sugar;carbohydrate

Susceptibility to antigen processing and presentation

- Ability to be processed and presented with an MHC molecules on the surface of an antigen-presenting cell or altered self-cell

Processing and presentation of exogenous antigens

Processing and presentation of endogenous antigens

• Does small peptide is a good antigen?

• How to make antibody against small peptide?

Hapten:Small organic molecules that are antigenic but not immunogenic.

Carrier:Large molecules that are chemically coupled to haptens yield immunogenic hapten-carrier conjugates.

Contribution of the biological system to immunogenicity:

- Genotype of the recipient animal

- Immunogen dosage and route of administration

- Adjuvants

Immunogen dosage and route of Administration

Doses: too low → no responsetoo high → tolerance

Routes: orally (從口入的)parenterally (非從口入的)

- intravenous (iv) : into a vein- intradermal (id) : into the skin- subcutaneous (sc) : beneath the skin- intramuscular (im) : into a muscle- intraperitoneal (ip) : into the peritoneal cavity

Adjuvants

- Latin adjuvare, to help

- Substances that, when mixed with an antigen

and injected with it, enhance the immunogenicity

of that antigen.

Effects of adjuvants

1. Prolong antigen persistence- slower release of antigen at the injection site

2. Enhance co-stimulatory signals- increased expression of MHC & B7 molecules- secretion of cytokines→ increased antigen-presenting ability→ maximal activation of TH cells

3. Induce granuloma formation- formation of a dense, macrophage-rich mass of cells

4. Stimulate lymphocyte proliferation nonspecifically

Contribution of the immunogen to immunogenicity:

- Foreighness- Molecular size- Chemical composition and heterogenicity- Susceptibility to antigen processing and presentation

Contribution of the biological system to immunogenicity:

- Genotype of the recipient animal- Immunogen dosage and route of administration- Adjuvants

Epitopes

- Immune cells do not interact with, or recognize,an entire immunogen molecules; instead,lymphocytes recognize discrete sites on themacromolecule called epitopes, or antigenicdeterminants.

- The recognition of antigens by T cells and Bcells is fundamentally different.

T-cell and B-cell epitopes

- Because B cells bind antigen that is free insolution, the epitopes they recognize tend to be highly accessible sites on the exposed surfaceof the immunogen.

- Because most T cells recognize antigen onlywhen it is combined with an MHC molecule, T cell epitope, as a rule, cannot be consideredapart from their associated MHC molecules.

Conformation of the epitoperecognized by B cells

1. The ability to function as a B-cell epitopeis determined by the nature of the antigen-binding site on the antibody molecules displayed by B cells.

3-D structure of anoctapeptide hormone

(angiotensin II) complexedwith a monoclonal Ab Fab

Fragment.

Red: angiotensin IIBlue: the heavy chainPurple: the light chain

Model of interaction between hen egg-white lysozyme (HEL) and Fabfragment of anti-HEL antibody

light chain (yellow) a glutamine residue (red)heavy chain (blue)

HEL

(green)

- The interactions of Ab with Ag are through non-covalent bonds.

- 4 types of non-covalent bonds:

a. Ionic (or electrostatic) bond

Ionic bonds form between surfaces of opposite charge.

b. Hydrogen bond

Hydrogen bonds form between hydrogen atoms and two other electronegative atoms such as oxygen and nitrogen.

c. Van der Waals’ force

Van der Waals’ forces occur at very close ranges between two atoms. Fluctuations in the electrical charge within electron clouds can lead to attractive or repulsive forces between atoms, dependent on the distance between them.

d. Hydrophobic bond

Hydrophobic bond is created by the behavior of hydrophobic subunits in aqueous environments.These tend to be pushed together to minimize the instability they cause in the network of hydrogen-bonded water molecules.

2. The B-cell epitope on native proteins generally are composed of hydrophilicamino acids on the protein surface that are topographically accessible to membrane-bound or free antibody.

Ab elicited by immunization with the (T,G)-A-L copolymer react largely with the exposed tyrosine

and glutamic acid residues. Anti-(T,G)-A-L Abs do not eact with the A-(T,G)-L copolymer

3. B-cell epitopes can contain sequentialor nonsequential amino acids.

Sperm whale myoglobulin contains 5 sequential B-cell epitopes

Hen egg-white lysozyme composes one nonsequential (conformational) epitope

HEL

Antibody to native HEL does not bind to reduced HEL

Inhibition of reaction between HEL loop and anti-loop antiserum by natural loop or closed synthetic loop only

4. B-cell epitopes tend to be located in flexible regions of an immunogen anddisplay site mobility.

5. Complex proteins contain multiple overlapping B-cell epitopes, some of which are immunodominant.

Properties of T-cell epitopes

1. Antigenic peptides recognized by T cells form trimolecularcomplexes with a TCR and an MHC molecule.

TCR and MHC-peptide

←TCR

← peptide

← MHC

2. - The antigen-binding cleft on an MHC molecule interacts with various oligomericpeptides (nonamer for class I & 12 –25 residues for class II) that function as T-cell epitopes.

- A given MHC molecule can bind a variety of different peptides (broad but selectiveinteraction).

3. Antigen processing is required to generate peptides that interact specifically with MHC molecules.

Processing and presentation of exogenous and endogenous antigens

4. T-cell epitopes tend to be on the “inside”of the protein molecule

5. Immunodominant T-cell epitopes are determined in part by the set of MHC molecules expressed by an individual.

Correlation of MHC-binding ability and T-cell-activating ability of synthetic peptides

Haptens and the study of antigenicity

Landsteiner (1920s & 1930s):

- the specificity of the immune response

- the enormous diversity of epitopes that the immune system is capable of recognizing

- many biologically important substances, e.g., drugs, peptide hormones, can function as haptens.

Drug allergies (藥物過敏)

When medicines becomeimmunogens, …………..

Penicillin allergy

Pattern recognition receptors

–Receptors of the innate immune system that recognize molecular patterns or motifs present on or within pathogens but absent in the host.

(1)

TABLE 3-5 REACTIVITY OF ANTISERAWITH VARIOUS HAPTENS (2)