Antibody synthesis

Effective antibody synthesis and switching from IgM to the other Ig-classes requires help by Tit-cells, predominantly but not exclusive by Th-2 cells. The master cytokine responsible for a switch to IgE and thus development of an allergy is IL-4. 

Second, the reactive species of a xenobiotic may bind to a protein, altering its antigenicity. The xenobiotic is said to act as a hapten, ie, a small molecule that by itself does not stimulate antibody synthesis but will combine with antibody once formed. The resulting antibodies can then damage the cell by several immunologic mechanisms that grossly perturb normal cellular biochemical processes. 

Some antigens, such as type 3 pneumococcal polysaccharide, EPS and other polymeric substances such as dextrans (poly-D-glucose) and levan (poly-D-fructose) can induce antibody synthesis without the assistance of TH cells. These are known as T-independent (Ti) antigens. Only one class of immunoglobulin (IgM) is synthesized and there is a weak memory response. 

Many parasitic diseases are associated not only with an impairment of humoral antibody synthesis, but also with an impaired cellular response, and one wonders whether these may have originated from an earlier nutritional effect on immune mechanisms (S2). 

Protein-deficient mice, although responding normally to phytohemagglutinin, were still able to reject skin autografts more rapidly than normally nourished controls which showed striking depression of antibody synthesis to sheep red blood cells (J7). Similarly malnourished rats which had marked suppression of plaque-forming cells and rosetteforming cells showed no difference in skin transplant rejection from their well fed controls (M18). 

As a second difference in neuroimmunological processes, we find a slow, long-lasting decay of intrathecal antibody synthesis, sometimes detectable 10-15 years after sufficient treatment (neurosyphilis, neuroborelliosis, or HSV encephalitis). 

Both aspects, the lack of an IgM-to-IgG switch and the slow normalization of intrathecal antibody synthesis, could be consequences of the same problem the handicapped regulation of the intrathecal immune response. Given the barrier-dependent low immunoglobulin concentration in CNS and the local (perivascular) invasion of relatively few immunocompetent cells, we might calculate a 10 lower probability for the encounter of cells and antibodies compared to blood. Irrespective... 

C. Azathioprine is a phase-specific cytotoxic agent that functions by inhibiting purine synthesis. The other answers are wrong because azathioprine is nonspecific, is not an alkylating agent, has no effect on immune complexes, and does not induce antibody synthesis. 

Adults, children and adolescents with primary defective antibody synthesis such as agammaglobulinemia or hypogammaglobulinemia, who are at increased risk of infection... 

Glucocorticoids inhibit acquired or cell-mediated immunity. Their effects are mediated via inhibition of genes that code for various cytokines. The cytokines inhibited by glucocorticoids include IL-1, IL-2, IL-3, IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, IL-8 and IFN-y. IL-2 inhibition by corticosteroids is the most crucial effect in immunosuppression, which results in the inhibition of T-cell proliferation and activation of cytolytic T cells. Glucocorticoids also slightly affect humoral immunity by inhibiting B-cell clonal expansion and antibody synthesis, and these effects are mediated via their ability to inhibit B cells ability to express IL-2 and IL-2 receptors. 

Related topics The immune system (Dl) Antibody synthesis (D4)... 

G6. Germuth, F. G., Flanagan, C., and Montenegro, M. R., The relationships between the chemical nature of the antigen, antigen dosage, rate of antibody synthesis and glomerulonephritis in experimental hypersensitivity. Johns Hopkins Med. J. 101, 149-167 (1957). 

Stich O, Graus F, Rasiah C, Rauer S. Qualitative evidence of anti-Yo-specific intrathecal antibody synthesis in patients with paraneoplastic cerebellar degeneration. J Neuroimmu-nol 2003 141(1-2) 165-169. 

In the course of an immune response the finally differentiated plasma cells, whose function is antibody synthesis, are formed from the B-lymphocytes under the influence of the T-lymphocytes and the thymus peptides. 

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