1). AntiGenX is a new pharmaceutical company working on developing therapeutic a
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Question
1). AntiGenX is a new pharmaceutical company working on developing therapeutic antibodies. However, their products so far have had varying success. Listed below are the first five drugs AntiGen has been working on creating. Answer the questions about the results obtained with each drug. a). Dextroampbetamine ("Dex") is a 135 Da monoamine that keeps people awake for exactly 50 minutes (making it popular with college students). In attempts to create anti- Dex antibodies researchers have injected mice with the Dex drug. However, the;y haven't been able to find any anti-Dex antibodies. Why is Dex a poor immunogen? What can you do to make it more immunogenic? (1 point)Explanation / Answer
There is a relationship between the size of a molecule and its immunogenicity. The larger the molecule the more it will act as an immunogen. Generally, most active immunogens have a molecular mass around 100,000 daltons (Da). Whereas molecules with a mass less than 5000 Da are less immunogenic, with some exceptions. Here “Dextroamphetamine” has a MW of 135 Da. So, it cannot act as an immunogen.
Conjugating Dex with a carrier Proteins can make it Immunogenic:
Carrier proteins are easily detectable antigens. The immune system can develop antibodies against these proteins very quickly. By conjugating small molecules like Dex to carrier proteins like Bovine serum albumin (BSA), most of the antibodies developed by the host will be against the carrier protein, but some antibodies will also develop against the conjugated antigen i.e. Dex, so increasing its immunogenicity and allowing for antibody development.
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