Christine Joanabel S.

Escol
MT 3-1

Immunology and Serology

December 15, 2014

1. Define the following:

a) Active Immunity
- Naturally acquired active immunity occurs when the person is exposed to a live
pathogen, develops the disease, and becomes immune as a result of the primary immune
response. Artificially acquired active immunity can be induced by a vaccine, a substance
that contains the antigen. A vaccine stimulates a primary response against the antigen
without causing symptoms of the disease.
b) Passive Immunity
- Artificially acquired passive immunity is a short-term immunization by the injection of
antibodies, such as gamma globulin, that are not produced by the recipient's cells.
Naturally acquired passive immunity occurs during pregnancy, in which certain
antibodies are passed from the maternal into the fetal bloodstream.
c) Antibody Titration
- Antibody titration is a determination of the concentration of a specific antibody in the
patient's serum or to determine the strength of antigen expression on different red cell
samples.
2. Contrast naturally produced immunity from artificially produced immunity
a) Naturally Produced Immunity
- consists of cells and proteins that are always present and ready to mobilize and fight
microbes at the site of infection. The main components of the innate immune system are
1) physical epithelial barriers, 2) phagocytic leukocytes, 3) dendritic cells, 4) a special
type of lymphocyte called a natural killer (NK) cell, and 5) circulating plasma proteins.
b) Artificially Produced Immunity
- is called into action against pathogens that are able to evade or overcome innate
immune defenses. Components of the adaptive immune system are normally silent;
however, when activated, these components adapt to the presence of infectious agents
by activating, proliferating, and creating potent mechanisms for neutralizing or
eliminating the microbes. There are two types of adaptive immune responses: humoral
immunity, mediated by antibodies produced by B lymphocytes, and cell-mediated
immunity, mediated by T lymphocytes.

3. Which immunoglobulin class is found in the highest concentration of normal serum?

- IgG, a monomer, is the predominant Ig class present in human serum. Produced as part of
the secondary immune response to an antigen, this class of immunoglobulin constitutes
approximately 75% of total serum Ig.
4. What is the antibody produced in humoral activity? Which antibody class is produced in
anamnestic response?
- The antibodies produced in Humoral and anamnestic responses are IgM and IgG.
5. Identify the term used to describe an antibody which binds to complement causes red cell
lysis.
- Complement Fixation.
6. Compare haptenes from antigen.
- Haptene is an incomplete antigen it only consist of 1 part it can be the carrier or determiner
portion. Thus, it can only perform one function unlike the complete antigen it has 2 parts, the
carrier and the determiner group, thus it can perform 2 functions: stimulate antibody reaction and
at the same time react with it.
7. List four factors which influence antigen antibody reactions.
a) Temperature
- Most antibodies have a thermal range, a range of temperatures at which they will
combine with an antigen and a thermal optimum, a temperature at which the antibody
when mixed with the antigen will react strongly.
Generally IgM antibodies are more reactive at temperatures rnaging from 4-27 C and
IgG antibodies at temperature ranging between 30C-37C.
b) pH
- At pH levels outside the range of 5.5 to 8.5, antigen-antibody reactions may be
adversely affected. Best reactions are observed at pH between 6.5-7.5. Buffered saline at
pH 7.2 is recommended for use for all irnmunohaernatologic investigations.
c) Incubation Time
- Incubation time varies with different antibodies but most workers allow between 30
minutes and 60 minutes for antigen-antibody reactions to occur. Incubation time can be
decreased to 5-15 minutes by reducing the ionic strength of the medium e.g. with LISS.

d) Nature of Antigen
- Different blood group antigens have varying number of antigen sites and even within a
specific blood group system, a person may be homozygous or heterozygous. The
homozygous individuals have considerably m9re antigen on the red cells than the
heterozygotes and the antibodies may show different patterns of reaction, this is called
the dosage effect of the antigen.The systems which show dosage effect are M,N,J,K and
Rhesus blood group systems.