What is a peptide antigen?

Peptide antigen is the use of peptide to trigger the animal's immune system to develop antibodies against this peptide. Peptides are short amino acid chains; Longer chains are known as proteins. Peptide antigen can be used as part of the vaccine development. They are amino acid chains and are connected by peptide binding. Peptide bonds are bonds of NH2 groups and cooh two amino acids adjacent to them.

The antigen is a molecule that binds to the antibody and creates an immune response, the body's response to the molecules that appear to be alien. Not all types of molecules are able to be recognized by the immune system. Proteins, peptides and sugars chains can act as antigens.

There are also human antigens. These include proteins present on the surface of tumor cells. Such antigens may also be present in Blood. This is the basis for testing antigen specific to prostrates, which are commonly used to screen prostrat cancer. Some antigens are the deathsLNO introduced to function as vaccines and create an immune response.

antibodies are proteins in the blood that counteract a specific antigen. Only some parts of the molecule are recognized by an antibody. The tip of the antibody contains a paratop that recognizes the complex structure of the antigen. This area of ​​the antibody is responsible for the great variety of antibodies present in the body. One individual can have millions of different antibodies.

Peptide antigens are often used because they are part of a larger protein that may not be purified. When using a peptide antigen to produce antibodies, it is important that the researcher uses the antigen part of the peptide. Antigen specialists can help with antigen design to maximize chances that the peptide used as an antigen creates an antibody. It is much easier to predict which epitopes are exposed if one has knowledge of threeozmeal structure of the compound.

In most cases, there is no knowledge of the overall peptide structure, although predictive software can analyze which part of the peptide is likely to be antigenic. Peptides that are most likely to encounter antibody are peptides on the surface of the cell. They will probably be hydrophilic - soluble in water. Flexibility is also an important criterion for peptide antigen to respond with the epitop.

Once the appropriate peptide antigen is identified, a synthetic peptide is formed. It can then be used in immunization. It is injected into an animal to create an immune response. Once the antibodies are isolated, they are analyzed to ensure that the body has mounted an effective immune response.

One common testing method to determine whether antibodies are specific to the required protein should be performed by Western Blot. This includes the separation of proteins that contain peptide on the gel by electric current. This is called the electronicoforéza. The proteins are then transmitted to the membrane and the probe with the antibody.

If an antibody is specific to protein, it will be tied to the protein on the membrane. The membrane is washed and then treated with a secondary antibody. If antibodies were developed, for example, in the mouse, the secondary antibody would be an anti-more antibody. This antibody is designed to generate color or luminescence so that the researcher can see where the original antibody is bound.