Immunogenicity measures a substance’s ability to trigger an immune response in a biological form. Drugs with low immunogenicity may not protect against infection. Proteins have higher immunogenicity than other substances, and researchers use methodologies to assess the immunogenicity of different protein structures.
Immunogenicity is the measure of any property possessed by a substance that allows the substance to trigger an immune system response in a human or animal life form. Substances that trigger a response from the immune system of a biological form could be an antigen or an epitope. Typically, immunogenicity is measured for foods, liquids, and pharmaceuticals designed to produce very specific immune system responses.
Foreign substances might be engineered or engineered for immunogenicity, such as some drugs. These substances may rely on an antigen or molecule that triggers the body to produce antibodies that are used to fight infection. More specifically, antigens use epitopes, which are the components of any antigen that an organism’s immune system recognizes and responds to, eliciting a response from the immune system.
The immunogenicity of a drug affects how the drug benefits an organism. When a drug is not very immunogenic, it may not be strong enough to protect the body from a present or possible infection. Several factors can influence the potency of a drug, such as how the drug is delivered to the body, the structure and robustness of the individual organism’s immune system, and even the size of the molecules that make up the drug.
The effects of the immunogenicity of a substance are directly influenced by the paratopes of an organism. Paratopes are the components of antibodies that recognize an epitope. Normally, paratopes are found only in certain components of an organism’s immune system, such as T cells, antibodies and B cells. The immunogenic response triggered in these cells allows them to effectively fight off infections of various types, protecting overall health of the organism.
Proteins tend to possess a higher level of immunogenicity than most other substances. Polysaccharides can also produce an immune system response in organisms, although they generally do not possess the same levels of immunogenicity as proteins. This means that the fats and nucleic acids used in drugs must be bound to a protein or polysaccharide so that they can produce an immune response in an organism.
Researchers developed methodologies to assess the immunogenicity of different protein structures. The different scores are divided into classes, which express the probability with which different types of protein structures will evoke an immune system response. Pharmaceutical companies, researchers, and others can analyze the different protein structures of a drug and, based on the classes of those structures and the density of the structures in the drug, make educated guesses about the drug’s potency before testing it in living organisms.
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