What are haptens

1. What are haptens? When you are very little, you might be afraid of walking along, however, when you are with your elder sister or brother, you have the courage to go. In immunology, there is also a little boy who cannot do anything when he is alone- hapten. Accurately, it is a small molecule which is incapable of acting as an antigen alone, but when it successfully find a large carrier to bind itself to, such as a protein, it will act as a stimulant to the production of antibodies. You might want to know why? Well, it’s because of their small sizes, haptens are failed to be recognized by immune cells, no doubt the immune response against them. So, are haptens useless? No. In fact, there are many drugs are haptens, such as penicillin. When penicillin is injected or ingested, it will take chemical reaction with proteins in the body to form a hapten-carrier complex, which result in the life-threatening syndrome known as anaphylaxis. Besides, due to their specific characteristics, haptens are a hot topic among immunologists. They use haptens in laboratory research and some types of diagnostic testing. Actually, these small molecules-haptens have been studied since the early 1900s. At that time, haptens are “haptein”, a Greek word, meaning "to fasten or bind". This term was first introduced into usage by the pioneering German bacteriologist and immunologist Paul Erlich (1854-1915). However, even in nowadays, it is also clear to see from the word that these molecules have to bind with other molecules so as to become functional. Haptes are known as incomplete or partial antigens, and then they must find protein molecules (to be carriers) to become an antigen so as the immune system can recognize them. Since then, researchers have conducted many studies to learn more about them. Until now, thousands of haptens have been discovered and mapped, and researchers also have set up several databases of haptens, making them they more convenient to study haptens. It is also said that, haptens can be useful in immune assays, which are designed to test a patient's immune system or to look for specific antibodies and antigens which may be present in the body. To understand the secrets of haptens are a part of the larger study of immunology. Researchers are looking deep into haptens and try to find out how haptens work. More progress in today will definitely help the antibody research. To learn more, please visit: http://www.creative-diagnostics.com/Hapten.htm