What kind of immune response does a toxoid vaccine aim to provoke?

A toxoid vaccine is specifically designed to elicit an immune response against the toxins produced by a pathogen, rather than the pathogen itself. When a toxin produced by a bacterium is inactivated to create a toxoid, it retains the ability to stimulate the immune system without causing disease. This results in the production of antibodies that can neutralize the active toxin if the person is later exposed to the bacterium that produces it.

In the case of a toxoid vaccine, such as those developed for diphtheria or tetanus, the immune system recognizes the inactivated toxin (the toxoid) as a foreign substance and generates a targeted immune response. This is particularly important because many pathogenic bacteria cause disease not through direct infection, but through the harmful effects of their toxins.

Other options would not be fitting in this context as they refer to responses targeting either whole pathogens or different aspects of immune response that are not the focus of toxoid vaccines. The specificity of the response to the toxin is what makes toxoid vaccines effective for preventing diseases associated with bacterial toxins.