Which of the following feature(s) should be present in a protein to generate strong immune response (antibody production) in an animal?
I. At least one B-cell epitope
II. At least one T-cell epitope
III. Proteolytic cleavage site(s)
IIT JAM - 2018,
Answer: D
All three features are needed: I, II and III.
A strong antibody response to a protein is T-cell dependent. A B cell recognises the protein through a B-cell epitope (I), takes it in and digests it. To do that, the protein must have proteolytic cleavage sites (III) so it can be processed into peptides. One of those peptides must be a T-cell epitope (II), presented on MHC class II to a helper T cell, which then drives the B cell to proliferate, switch class and produce high-affinity antibody.
A protein with only a B-cell epitope gives at best a weak response. Any option leaving out one of the three breaks this chain.
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