Immunity and Immunogenicity

Welcome to week 3. This week, we are going to look at the immunogenicity of biotechnology products. Immunogenicity is defined as the propensity of the therapeutic biologics to elicit immune responses in the form of Anti-Drug Antibodies (ADAs). Immune responses to therapeutic biologics may pose problems for both therapeutic efficacy and patient safety. Both patient-related and product-related factors may affect the immunogenicity of therapeutic biologics. These factors should be taken into consideration in the early stage of therapeutic biologics development.

Initially, immunity and immunogenicity are compared. Then, differences between innate and adaptive immunity are illustrated. Finally, factors that affect immunogenicity, clinical effects of induced antibodies, and strategies to reduce immunogenicity are outlined.