help!!!!
2006-12-20 10:04:12 · 3 answers · asked by anonyomous 2 in Health ➔ Diseases & Conditions ➔ Respiratory Diseases
it attaches to the receptors on the virus so that the viruscant attach to the cell
2006-12-20 10:07:13 · answer #1 · answered by ajflkajfsalkfsalkfna 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
an antigen is anything that elicits an immune response or can be bound by an antibody. So, on a virus there are proteins these can be called antigens. An antibody speciffic for that antigen binds to the surface proteins on the virus, which marks the virus to be attacked by macrophages. The macrophages eat the virus.
2006-12-20 10:07:56 · answer #2 · answered by bunja2 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
An antigen is a small piece of (usually) a protein that can be recognized by your body and used as a target for an antibody. It's basically the thing that an antibody binds to on a foreign substance.
So, as for what it "does" itself, well nothing really, it's the small piece of whatever virus or bacteria is invading you body that your immune system has recognized and used as a handle to get the immune system working (and yes, there can be multiple antigens recognized on a single organism).
2006-12-20 10:07:17 · answer #3 · answered by The Doc 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋