What Are Antibodies and What Effects Do They Have Against Antigens?

The human immune system can create proteins to fight off all different types of diseases caused by foreign cells invading the body. It is like having your very own personal army that is armed and ready to protect your body from intruders. These mini warriors are known as antibodies and their specific purpose is to fight the invading disease-causing agents, known as antigens.

What are Antibodies?

• High white blood cell counts can indicate an infection is present.

  Lymphocytes (or specialized white cells) found naturally in the body create the protein-based immunoglobulins (antibodies) necessary to fight off the invading antigens. Each type of antibody is specialized to defend the body against a specific antigen, so the immune system must create new antibodies to fight the new antigens.

How an Antibody Combats an Antigen

• Specialized antibodies can fight the antigen quicker.

  Once the immune system realizes that a foreign micro-organism has entered and threatened the well being of the body, it will assess the threat and begin to create specific antibodies to fight the new infection. After creating the necessary strain-specific antibody, the antibody will attach itself to the molecular shape of the antigen and neutralize that portion of the antigen. Other antibodies will join the process to completely neutralize the antigen.

White Cell Memory

• Cell memory can help quickly defend the body from the next attack.

  Any white cells left over after the fight with the antigen will develop a type of 'cell memory,' which means the next time the disease tries to enter the body, the white cell will rapidly replicate and use the antibodies to fight off the infection in double the time.

Problems with Antigens

• Fighting disease is just the body creating a stronger version of itself.

  Though the body is fairly resilient, antibiotics are used to increase the body's level of immunity to the invading antigen by teaming up with the already present antibodies. The problem that comes with the use of antibiotics is that certain strains of antigens are becoming antibiotic resistant, leaving the body's antibody population to fight off infections whose antigens have genetically mutated into stronger and more dangerous forms of the disease.