Anti – idiotypic antibody vaccines

ANTI-IDIOTYPIC ANTIBODY VACCINE

  • Antibodies formed against an antigen will have a structural image of that antigen at the antigen combining site (idiotype) and antibodies to antibody (anti-idiotype) will have antigen combining site that is structurally similar to that of antigen. Thus the secondary antibody mimics the structure of antigen and can be used as vaccine to produce antibody.
  • Example: Human hepatitis B vaccine.
  • Advantages: Avoids risk of exposure to a pathogen.
  • Disadvantages:
    • Relatively complex and costly
    • Not very effective
Last modified: Thursday, 26 August 2010, 10:39 AM