Question

1. have you ever wondered why there is no cure for the common cold? well the reason is that the pathogen that causes the cold changes every single year! so even if doctors had a cure for one form of the disease, the pathogen would change and we would need a new cure by the next cold season. similarly, even if your immune system creates antibodies for the cold pathogen one year, those antibodies would not work on another version of the cold pathogen. explain why the antibodies your body makes for one pathogen do not work on other pathogens.

Explanation:

Antibodies are specific to antigens. Each pathogen has unique antigens. Antibodies bind to specific antigens. If the pathogen (like cold - causing ones) changes (mutates), its antigens change. So, antibodies made for one version (with specific antigens) won't recognize and bind to a different version (with different antigens) of the pathogen.

Answer:

Antibodies are highly specific to the antigens of a particular pathogen. When a pathogen changes (mutates), its antigens change. The antibodies your body made for the original pathogen's antigens are not complementary to the new antigens of the mutated pathogen. So, they cannot bind to and neutralize the new pathogen version.