Question

1. Through a very complicated biochemical extraction procedure you are able to isolate three surface cellular components from a new bacterial pathogen with the following characteristics:

Component #1:           Flagellar protein, molecular weight 15,000

Component #2:           Membrane polypeptide, molecular weight 1,500

Component #3:           Membrane lipid, molecular weight 20,000

1. Which one would be most likely to be a good vaccine and why?
2. Describe an experiment where you would test your vaccine obtained in No. 1.
3. Generate some hypothetical results for the experiment described above and graph them out indicating the type of response you would get the first time you expose your subjects to the vaccine (Please don’t kill them!), and then the type of response you would expect on a second exposure to the real pathogen. Remember to label the axes of your graph!

Answer 1

Answer:

a):

• Proteins exhibit complex structure and serve as good antigens as compared to carbohydrates and lipids.
• Large proteins exhibit complex structure. Hence component A serves as a good vaccine component.

b):

• The vaccine development programme is performed in a model organism such as rabbit, mice etc..
• It is further confirmed in large animals such as monkey before clinical trials on humans.

c):

• First exposure to antigen triggers a primary immune response which is characterized by slow and limited production of antibodies.
• This also triggers the production of memory cells.
• The second exposure to antigen triggers a secondary immune response which is characterized by rapid and greater production of antibodies.

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