antigen
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( or complete antigen)
- any agent that, when introduced into an immunocompetent animal, stimulates the production of a specific antibody or antibodies that can combine with the antigen. It may be a pure substance, a mixture of substances, or particulate material (including cells or cell fragments). In this sense the term includes agglutinogen and allergen and is synonymous with immunogen (def. 1).
- (or incomplete antigen) any substance that can combine with a specific antibody but is not an immunogen (def. 2), i.e. it is not by itself able to stimulate antibody production though it may do so if combined with a carrier (def. 8). In this sense the term includes hapten.
| antifreeze glycoprotein, antifolate, antidote | |
| antigen excess, antigen-antibody complex, antigen-binding capacity |
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Oxford Dictionary of Biochemistry
Oxford University Press. Oxford Dictionary of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology © 1997, 2000, 2006 All rights reserved.
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