Question about Antibodies and Hypersensitivity

Question

Use the following terms to describe the types of antibodies (environmental, allogenic, autoimmune) present with each of the following hypersensitivity reactions:

1. Reaction to pet dander
2. Tissue graft rejection
3. Anaphylactic reaction to bee sting
4. Type I Diabetes Mellitus
5. Mismatched blood transfusion
6. Penicillin allergy
7. Myasthenia Gravis

Answer 1

Hi Alesha! From the phrasing of the question, I'm guessing that you just have to categorize the reactions into those categories, so I'm going to explain it in that way.

For this question, it's best to have an understanding of what the words mean first. 'Auto' means 'self' (think 'autopilot') and 'allo' means 'other'. Autoimmune reactions happen when the body attacks itself. Alloimmune reactions happen in response to other body tissue. Environmental reactions occur when the immune system

overreacts (is hypersensitive) to noninfectious environmental antigens, and is typically what is thought of with typical allergies like pollen.

With that in mind, let's take a look at these questions:

1. Reaction to pet dander - Environmental (stimuli comes from the external environment)
2. Tissue graft rejection - Alloimmune (the body rejecting another body's tissues)
3. Anaphylactic reaction to bee sting - Environmental (stimuli comes from the external environment)
4. Type I Diabetes Mellitus - Autoimmune (remember what causes Type 1 diabetes- the pancreas is attacked by the immune system, destroying the cells which produce insulin)
5. Mismatched blood transfusion - Alloimmune (remember that blood is a tissue)
6. Penicillin allergy- Environmental (stimuli comes from the external environment)
7. Myasthenia Gravis - Autoimmune (myasthenia gravis is an autoimmune disease which causes weakness of the muscles)

Hope this helps! :)