Would aspirin be considered an antigen? Help please!

Question

Would aspirin be considered an antigen in the human body? Why or why not? Help is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Answer 1

only if it creates an antibody.

an antigen is a substance that causes the production of an antibody.

an antibody is a immune response to an antigen.  they are interconnected and you can't have one without the other like a lock and key.  

anything can be an antigen if it causes an immune response.

Answer 2

An antigen is something that prompts a response from the immune system in the form of antibodies. These would generally be foreign proteins and polysaccharides (long chain sugars) from viruses, bacteria and the like. Vaccines are antigenic.

Aspirin is a medication, not a protein. It provokes no immune response except in those people who are allergic to it. In that case, that would case primarily a histamine response, as opposed to an antibody response. Aspirin works by blocking the action of prostaglandin, and COX, thus reducing pain and inflammation.

So in short, the answer is yes, aspirin can be considered an antigen, but only in those people who are allergic to it. The correct term for such a substance would be allergen, as opposed to antigen.