Antibodies and Immune Complexes

Which chain determines the class of antibody?

Kappa and lambda chains are found in combinations in antibodies. What are the combinations found in each antibody class?

What chemical would you apply to antibodies to separate the heavy and light chains?

What length in kilodaltons are light chains? And heavy chains?

What type of bonds hold the chains in an antibody monomer together?

Antibodies consist of Fab variable regions and Fc constant regions. How many constant domains do each of the different antibody classes have?

Which region determines the function of the antibody?

What holds both IgA dimers and IgM pentamers together?

What is the secretory component of IgA?

List some secretions produced by mucous membranes that IgA is secreted in.

How many antigens can IgM bind at once? How many does it tend to bind at once?

What is the isotype of an antibody?

What is the allotype of an antibody?

What is the idiotype of an antibody?

What is an antigen?

How many antibodies bind to an antigen?

What region of an antibody becomes active when it binds to antigen?

Which antibodies, once they've bound antigenic epitopes, can activate the complement cascade in order to produce membrane attack complexes, anaphylatoxins for inflammation, and opsonins for further immune activation?

Which antibody isotype is the best opsonin (which activates phagocytes to increase their phagocytic activity)?

Which antibody isotype activates mast cells to release histamine and kill worms or cause hypersensitivity (e.g. hayfever)?

Which antibody isotype activates natural killer cells to release granules and kill infected/cancer cells (via antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity, ADCC)?

How does antibody neutralise mucosal infections?

What is the main role of IgD?

Which is the only antibody isotype to protect a baby/foetus?

Where is most IgE found (clue: not the serum)?

Which is the only antibody to be part of the innate immune response?

What is the different between avidity and affinity?

Which laboratory technique can be used to detect antibody/antigen? How is it quantitative?

What are immune complexes? How do they form?

How are immune complexes made soluble?

How are immune complexes transported and cleared in health?

When might immune complexes be deposited in tissues (leading to pathology) rather than cleared by the liver and spleen macrophages?

Which inflammatory condition is caused when immune complexes are deposited in small blood vessels?

Which inflammatory condition is caused when immune complexes are deposited in sinovial joints?

Which inflammatory condition is caused when immune complexes are deposited in the glomerular basement membrane of the kidney?

What signs are seen in tissues where immune complexes are deposited and cause inflammation?

Which type of response are all of the pathologies caused by immune complex deposition?

How does the process of deposition (immune complexes going from blood to tissues) occur?

What is frustrated phagocytosis and how does it cause tissue damage in type III hypersensitivity reactions?

How can the Mancini technique (radial immunodiffusion) be used to demonstrate autoimmune disease in an individual?

What is nephelometry?

Why would lack of the first four complement proteins in the classical complement cascade (C1, C2, C3, C4) be an important diagnostic marker in immune complex mediated disease?

Name three persistent infectious agents which may result in the formation of immune complexes?

Name three autoimmune diseases which may result in the formation of immune complexes.

What type of antibodies are tested for presence of in Mancini (radial immunodiffusion) assays?