EVERYDAY SCIENCE

Detailed explanation-1: -Antibodies are protective proteins produced by your immune system. They attach to antigens (foreign substances)-such as bacteria, fungi, viruses and toxins-and remove them from your body.

Detailed explanation-2: -The first time a person is exposed to a type of bacteria, fungus, or virus, the immune system makes antibodies to that specific organism. Some of these antibodies remain in the immune system after they have attacked and destroyed the bacteria, fungus, or virus.

Detailed explanation-3: -The ability of high-affinity antibodies to neutralize toxins, viruses, or bacteria can protect against infection but does not, on its own, solve the problem of how to remove the pathogens and their products from the body. Moreover, many pathogens cannot be neutralized by antibody and must be destroyed by other means.

Detailed explanation-4: -Antibodies act against viruses primarily by binding to and neutralizing virions and by directing the lysis of infected cells by complement or killer leukocytes.

Detailed explanation-5: -Examples of antibody functions include neutralization of infectivity, phagocytosis, antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC), and complement-mediated lysis of pathogens or of infected cells.