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• n  any substance (as a toxin or enzyme) that stimulates an immune response in the body (especially the production of antibodies)

• Take the prostate-specific-antigen (PSA) test for prostate cancer, for example.
• The researchers believe that the antigen influences the molecule to assume a modified structure in the flask, just as it would in the blood stream.
• The antigen, chemically removed from its microscopic bacterial source, is being distributed to investigating doctors.

News & Articles

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• Improved outlook for immune-based therapies
  ( Technische Universitaet Muenchen ) The idea of fighting infections and even cancers by inducing protective immune responses may now be a step closer to clinical practice. Researchers have removed a major obstacle to widespread use of adoptive transfer therapy, in which a patient receives "killer" immune cells targeting a disease agent. Existing technologies can easily provide antigen-specific ...
  July 3, 2013 - EurekAlert!

Quotes

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• James Sensenbrenner in FOX6Now.com Milwaukee
  In late July, during a routine checkup, my PSA ( prostate-specific antigen) levels were found to be high, which can be an indicator of prostate cancer,Sensenbrenner said.
• James A Baker III in Reuters UK
  It is unique in that it doesn't induce an inflammatory response. What we think it does is that it actually induces delivery of the antigen,Baker said.
• John Rothman in EurekAlert (press release)
  We bioengineer Listeria both to attenuate it and to cause it to secrete a tumor-specific antigen fused to a listerial protein, which makes it more effective than Listeria that just secretes the tumor antigen,Rothman said. "By doing this we...