User Contributed Dictionary
Etymology
Noun
- The ability of a particular substance to provoke an immune response.
Extensive Definition
Immunogenicity is the ability of a particular
substance, which is called the antigen, to provoke an immune
response.
The ability of antigen to elicit immune response
is called “Immunogenicity”.
Antigens that do provoke the immune response are
called-”immunogens”
Immunogenic potency of antigens
Lipids, nucleic
acids serve as immunogens only when they are in combination
with proteins/polysaccharides.
-For studies of humoral immune response –
proteins/ polysaccharides are used
-For cell-mediated immunity – only proteins serve
as immunogens
Factors influencing immunogenicity
->Contribution of antigen to
immunogenicity
->Contribution of biological system to
immunogenicity
Antigens and immunogenicity
see the diagram
Immunogenicity is influenced by multiple
characteristics of an antigen:
-Foreignness: Phylogenetic
distance
-Epitope
density
-Chemical composition and heterogeneity
-Degradability (ability to be processed &
presented to T cells)
D-amino
acids
References
immunogenicity in German:
Immunogenität