BETA - What is the job of an antibody?

So, antibody is basically a chemical, a biologic chemical that's made by the cell called B-cells or plasma cells. It is something that has essentially a molecule with two ends. It's like a Y-shaped molecule where one end of the Y, or the two initial prongs of the Y, if you will, actually bind to the target. So each antibody is specific to a specific target. And in most cases, again, the antibody would be specific for a pathogen. Let's say for the sake of argument, coronavirus. So the antibody would be specific for the protein expressed on the coronavirus. The other end of the molecule is an end that actually helps recruit other immune cells. So not only does the antibody directly engage the target by binding to the Y end of the molecule, the other end then engages other immune cells to try to kill that target. Antibodies also engage other chemicals, like complement and things like that, to try to again kill the targets. At the end of the day, it is basically a mechanism by which the immune system can target infected cells and kill them. And that's really fundamental to be able to protect us from pathogens.