neuromyelitis optica (nmo) is an autoimmune inflammatory disease of the central nervous system with preferential involvement in the optic nerve and spinal cord with a widespread spectrum of clinical features; multiple therapeutic agents have been used with different results. recent evidence points to b?cell?mediated humoral immunity in the pathogenesis of nmo. rituximab targets the cd20 antigen...

B cells signaling in response to antigen is proportional to antigen affinity, a process known as affinity discrimination. Recent research suggests that B cells can acquire antigen in membranebound form on the surface of antigen-presenting cells (APCs), with signaling being initiated within a few seconds of B cell/APC contact. During the earliest stages of B cell/APC contact, B cell receptors (B...

During an immune response antigen-primed B-cells increase their antigen responsiveness by affinity maturation mediated by somatic hypermutation of the genes encoding the antigen-specific B-cell receptor (BCR) and by selection of higher-affinity B cell clones. Unlike the BCR, the T-cell receptor (TCR) cannot undergo affinity maturation. Nevertheless, antigen-primed T cells significantly increase...

computational tools are reliable alternatives to laborious work in chimeric protein design. in this study, a chimeric antigen was designed using computational techniques for simultaneous detection of anti-htlv-i and anti-hbv in infected sera. databases were searched for amino acid sequences of hbv/hlv-i diagnostic antigens. the immunodominant fragments were selected based on propensity scales. ...

Papaevangelou, G., Kremastinou, T., Prevedourakis, C., and Kaskarelis, D. (1974). Archives of Disease in Childhood, 49, 936. Hepatitis B antigen and antibody in maternal blood, cord blood, and amniotic fluid. Transplacental transmission of hepatitis B virus from hepatitis B antigen carrier mothers was investigated by studying the presence of the antigen and its antibody in maternal blood, umbil...

Background/Aim: Hepatitis B surface antigen(HBsAg) is routinely detected qualitatively in Hepatitis B Virus(HBV) infection where its persistence beyond 6 months defines chronic hepatitis B(CHB) infection. Hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) usually indicates active HBV replication and risk of transmission of infection. In spite of the emerging use of chemiluminescence based quantitative HBsAg assays ...