In the late 1980s doctors discovered that a virus called HIV was responsible for causing AIDS. When it was first identified, the virus was thought to be relatively easy to treat. In the years since, however, scientists have realised that this isn't the case - there's no cure for HIV and it can take decades for an infected person to develop full-blown AIDS. Why is this? Well, one reason is because of how antibodies work...
Antibodies are a type of immune cell produced in response to an infection. They're produced by B-cells, which are a type of white blood cell (a leukocyte). Antibodies can be thought of as specialized proteins that bind to foreign substances—like viruses—in order to neutralize them.
Antibodies are specific for one type of foreign substance; antibodies against the common cold virus would not protect you from measles nor vice versa. All antibodies share some basic characteristics: they're proteins that come in two types, IgGs or IgM, as well as subtypes with different functions (IgG1 vs IgG2b etc.). They also have regions called paratopes that work like lock-and-key mechanisms with antigens on pathogens so they can bind them effectively and neutralize them once they've been bound together tightly enough through their complementary shapes at key sites on both sides where these molecules meet up during an interaction between two different molecular types interacting with each other via chemical bonds between atoms within those molecules' structures
You may have heard that antibodies are your body's natural defense against foreign substances, like bacteria and viruses. Antibodies are produced by B-cells in response to an infection or a vaccination. They bind to antigens on the surface of the virus, tagging it for destruction or neutralising it so it cannot infect any more cells.
What are antibodies? They're long proteins that your immune system makes to fight off viruses, bacteria and other foreign bodies. When an antibody binds to a foreign invader, it alerts the rest of your body's defenses by making holes in it that kill or disable it. This process is called opsonization: basically, you can think of antibodies as little bombs attached to the outside of a virus.
Antibodies can also bind and neutralize toxins (poisons) made by bacteria or fungi. If you know someone who has had food poisoning from E. coli, they'll probably tell you how much better they felt when they stopped vomiting (and perhaps took some charcoal pills). That's because their body produced anti-Ecoli antibodies which bound all those nasty Ecoli toxins in their gut and neutralized them so they couldn't get into his bloodstream anymore - preventing kidney failure!
Antibodies are able to bind to antigens on the surface of viruses, which is why they're called "antibodies". They can also tag them for destruction, neutralise them or block their ability to infect cells.
But HIV has a couple of tricks up its sleeve. First of all, it mutates very easily, which means that antibodies that may have bound successfully to one virus don't stick so well to another. Additionally, HIV infects and hides inside immune cells called T-cells, the very ones that produce antibodies.
The first line of defense against diseases like HIV is your skin and mucous membranes—if they're healthy and unbroken, germs can't get into your body through them. The second line is the lymphatic system: The lymph nodes collect fluid from tissues around them and return it back into circulation where it can be processed by other organs. The third line is your blood vessels (veins), which bring fresh oxygenated blood from your heart throughout your body via arteries. These three barriers work together with specialized immune cells called macrophages to destroy any foreign invaders before they cause harm by attacking or absorbing them outright .
Second, HIV infects and hides inside immune cells called T-cells, the very ones that produce antibodies. The virus then uses the cell's machinery to make more copies of itself, which it then releases into your bloodstream where they are free to infect other cells.
When you get a flu shot or take antibiotics, the active ingredient is injected into your bloodstream directly where it can attack an invading bacterium or virus. But with HIV, this isn't possible because viruses live inside cells that are protected by a thick membrane made up of proteins called receptors. Antibodies cannot pass through these membranes on their own—they must first attach themselves to another molecule in order to do so.
Inside these cells the virus is protected from antibodies in the blood. When an antibody binds to a virus, it triggers other immune cells to attack and destroy them. But HIV has a couple of tricks up its sleeve. Firstly, it mutates very easily, making it harder for antibodies to bind with their antigens on its surface. Secondly, it can enter different types of cells within our bodies where antibodies can't reach them and replicate itself continuously – meaning that eventually there can be so many viruses that our bodies simply cannot cope with them all!
HIV is able to evade antibody detection and protection. The reason for this is that the virus mutates so quickly that any antibodies produced by your immune system will not be able to detect all of the strains of HIV. When you get infected with HIV, a large amount of genetic material including genes that code for protein molecules (proteins are often referred to as proteins) from the virus are inserted into your DNA. This means that there are many different combinations of these genes in your body and these different combinations create different strains of HIV which makes it very difficult for antibodies made by your immune system to detect them all. In addition, another way in which HIV evades antibodies is through its ability to infect cells inside our bodies called T-cells which also produce antibodies but do not get detected because they themselves cannot be seen by our immune systems at all!
HIV is a tricky virus to fight with antibodies, but there are other ways to do it. One way is by using drugs that target the virus directly, preventing it from infecting new cells and killing infected ones. They're called antiretroviral drugs and they're often used alongside an antibody treatment as well as other treatments like lifestyle changes or surgery. In addition to this, there are also other types of drugs specifically designed for people who have been diagnosed with HIV infection but don't yet have symptoms from it - these medications can slow down the progression of HIV so that we can live longer lives without symptoms!