Antigen & Immunogen

Dewi Wulandari
Clinical Pathology Dept.
Faculty of Medicine, Univ. Indonesia
 Introduction
Immune response :
Innate immune response
Adaptive immune response
Adaptive immune responses :
Arise as a result of exposure to foreign
stimuli
Specific responses
Consist of cellular immune response &
humoral immune response
 Definitions
Antigen : any agent capable of binding
specifically to components of
immune response TCR & antibody

Immunogen : any agent capable

inducing an immune response

All immunogens are antigens, but not

all antigen are immunogens
 What makes antigens are
immunogens?
Foreignness
High molecular weight
Chemical complexity
Ability to process & presented by
MHC molecules
 Foreignness
The immune system is normally able to
distinguish between self and nonself,
Substances recognized as nonself are
immunogenic.
The more distant taxonomically the
source of the immunogen is from the
host, the better it is as a stimulus.
However, autoantibodies, or antibodies
to selfantigens,
 High Molecular Weight
at least 10,000 Daltons to be
recognized by the immune system,
and the best : 100,000 daltons.
1,2

the greater the molecular weight, the

more potent the molecule is as an
immunogen.
 Chemical complexity
Proteins and polysaccharides are the
best immunogens.
Carbohydrates are somewhat less
immunogenic than protein most
often occur in the form of glycolipids
or glycoproteins
Pure nucleic acids and lipids are not
immunogenic by themselves
Ability to process & presented
by MHC molecules
a substance to elicit an immune
response, it must be subject to
antigen processing enzymatic
digestion + complexed to MHC
molecules ymphocytes
If a macromolecule cant be degraded
and presented with MHC molecules,
then it would be a poor immunogen
 Epitope
Epitopes are molecular shapes or
configurations that are recognized by
B or T cells
 Hapten
too small to be recognized by
themselves,
but if they are complexed to larger
molecules, they are then able to
stimulate a response
 RELATIONSHIP OF
ANTIGENS TO THE HOST
Autoantigens : antigens that belong to
the host
Alloantigens : antigens from other
member of hosts species
Heteroantigens : antigens from other
species
Heterophile antigens : antigens from
other species but identical or closely
related to alloantigens.
 ADJUVANTS
is a substance administered with an
immunogen that increases the
immune response.
It acts by producing a local
inflammatory response that attracts
a large number of immune system
cells to the injection site
e.g : aluminium salt, BCG.
Thank you &
Good Luck