title: Analyzing the joint effects of two antibodies and the design of molecularly engineered vaccines.
abstract: A new analytical approach to determine how antibodies relate to each other in producing immunity is presented. One purpose of this analysis is to decide on the antigenic composition of vaccines. Regression analyses and single discrete analyses are shown to be inappropriate to this task. The proposed analyses makes multiple cut points on two pre-exposure antibody levels. At each resulting discrete classification, additive and multiplicative interaction parameters are calculated. Various models of joint antibody action are shown to produce two general patterns of interaction terms with this type of analysis. One pattern characterizes situations where each antibody, or something substituting for the action of each antibody, is always needed to eliminate all infections. This may be because the antigens to which the antibodies are directed are on separate microbes or because microbes can only be neutralized by the joint action of both antibodies. A second pattern characterizes situations where both antibodies act cooperatively but given high enough levels only one may be needed. This may be because the antibodies have the same molecular effect or because they act by separate means against the same organisms in an innoculum.
mesh_terms: D000906:Antibodies / Q000276:immunology*; D007109:Immunity; D008954:Models, Biological; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D014612:Vaccines / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000906:Antibodies; D014612:Vaccines