So it ought to be possible to test for the presence of a certain antigen on a surface by dragging a suitable antibody over it, and seeing if it gets stuck going fishing, in effect, on a molecular scale.
Out of tens of thousands of proteins in a cancer cell, less than one in a thousand may become a cancer antigen.
The vaccine was created by taking a glycoprotein antigen from the rabies virus and inserting it into Vaccinia virus, the same one used for smallpox inoculation.
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Shan Wang of Stanford has used a GMR chip smaller than a postage stamp to detect carcinoma-embryonic antigen (a sign of colon and rectal cancer) and human papilloma virus, the main cause of cervical cancer.
Dr Hinterdorfer and his team tested this idea by applying a coating of an antigen (an enzyme called lysozyme) to a mica sheet, and suspending an appropriate antibody from the tip of an atomic-force microscope with a flexible polymer tether.
Personally, I favor the vaccine being developed by Antigen Express to gain a partner after they pass a couple more milestones.
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But UC David professor Michael Wilkes investigated and learned that the seminar was primarily a sales pitch about the prostate specific antigen (PSA) test, and that its main message was that men should get tested regularly beginning at age 40.
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Men who get tested for prostate specific antigen, or PSA, have a 13.5% chance of landing in the danger zone.
In this case, a little genetic engineering convinced vaccinia to produce an important rabies antigen.
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Pfizer's drug tremelimumab and Bristol-Myers Squibb's ipilimumab are antibodies to a protein called CTLA-4 (cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen-4) that acts as an emergency brake to prevent killer T cells from attacking healthy tissue.
The agency awarded a contract several weeks ago to five manufacturers to develop an H1N1 antigen.
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Both drugs turn off a natural brake on immune system activity called CTLA4 (cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen 4).
Well, there is a reference to the pain of the test itself, presumably the PSA (Prostate Specific Antigen) test.
However, before the alarm can be sounded in this way, proteins on the surface of the antigen-presenting cell and the T cell must bind together in what is called a cellular handshake.
For a T cell to become active, it must receive signals from another part of the immune system called an antigen-presenting cell.
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