When we talk of infectious diseases, we know they are caused by pathogens. However, it is not as if the entire pathogen is responsible for the disease. Each of the pathogens have many sites or epitopes that are well known to the immune system receptors. A majority of the antigens, being proteins have to coexist with the lipids, nucleic acids and carbohydrates as well. There are a number of small molecules competitive antigens also present. They along with the anti-small molecules antibodiesare responsible for the immune system functioning the way it does. The immune system is the defense mechanism of the body that produces antigens and antibodies upon any exposure to infectious diseases. It tries to make these antigens and antibodies over a period of time to enable the body to ward off the infection. However, when the immune system becomes weak, it is unable to produce them in sufficient quantities to fight the disease and that is when the patient falls prey to the disease.
Hapten carrier conjugates help trigger immune system responses faster
In order to elicit the right response from the immune system, the antigen has to be of the right size so that the lymphocyte activation is done. Haptens or tiny chemical compounds are not big enough to make the activation happen. They have to be attached to other carriers or macromolecules for them to become immunogenic. The immunogen has to possess epitopes that can be known to the T cell receptors and also be degradable for the antibody response to take place. Check more here; https://www.genemedi.net/
That is where the role of haptens and hapten – carrier conjugates play a role. They are essential to many of the quantitative as well as qualitative immunoassays developing with great deal of sensitivity. When making the hapten conjugate, a lot of consideration is given to what hapten is chosen, the type of conjugate, the manner of coupling as well as the hapten density. The quantity of hapten directly influences as to how the immune system responds towards any antigenic determinant.Haptens unless conjugated properly remain incomplete antigens and are not by themselves sufficient to stimulate the immune system for a response. When they become conjugated or carrier coupled antigens, they are a different breed altogether.
BSA – conjugated and OVA- conjugatedhaptens are becoming more and more common. Scientists are using them to produce the immune system response they desire by evaluating the various parameters involved in the hapten – carrier conjugates process. They are also competitive ELISA validatedprocesses to make sure that the conjugation is carried out without wasting resources, including time.
The key to a successful hapten – carrier conjugation is to first do a complete analysis of the various immunogenic variables. These include the method itself, the cross linking that will take place between the protein carrier and the molecule, the linkers being used and the chemical structure. The strategy should be to also consider adjuvants used if needed to boost immune response.
OVA is the protein that is deployed as the carrier protein for the production of antibodies. The OVA conjugation or OVA conjugated hapten or peptide is done using kit components. The customer using activated OVA makes the conjugate reacting the peptide with the activate OVA. It is a single step that renders the OVA-peptide with more than 95% purity.
The total activated OVA used is merely 2mg. The time taken is just an hour and the purification process that is done just once can still afford more than 95% OVA-peptide conjugate.
It is thus clear that through hapten-carrier conjugates, the immune response can be triggered pretty quickly and at an affordable cost.
