MCIM 224 Lecture Notes - Lecture 17: Immunoglobulin G, Gamma Globulin, Measles
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Can we exploit the antibody-antigen interaction to develop either the antibody or the antigen? diagnostic tests to detect. Principle: the ab-ag interaction is highly specific - therefore, if use it to detect the other you have one, you can (note: the ag may be anything - a microbe, a drug, a hormone, etc) Eg #1: a patient comes in with symptoms of a hepatitis c virus infection. This virus is cannot be grown in the laboratory, and molecular tests which look for the viral nucleic acids require specialized equipment. Look for antibodies against hcv in the patient using the (enzyme linked immunosorbent assay) A positive elisa result indicates that antibodies against a certain in a patient"s serum. microorganism are present. But - antibodies in serum may be due to: A current active infection with the microbe. A previous infection with the microbe from which the patient has now recovered (but antibodies remain) Discriminating between the possibilities requires further testing.