How Is Hapten Created?

When injected or ingested, penicillin reacts chemically with proteins in the body to form a hapten-carrier complex that can lead to the life-threatening syndrome called anaphylaxis.

What do haptens bind?

Haptens frequently bind to proteins in blood serum, such as albumin. If the hapten-albumin complex is larger than 3,000 MW, it becomes immunogenic. The immune response elicited by hapten-carrier complex targets both the carrier (in this case, albumin) and the hapten.

What is a hapten in immunology?

A hapten is a substance that can combine with a specific antibody but lacks antigenicity of its own. Many small molecules of M_r < 1000 such as toxins, drugs and hormones are not capable of invoking immune response when injected directly into animals. They are thus not immunogenic by themselves, and are called haptens.