Structure and Function of Immunoglobulins

By H. Schroeder, L. Cavacini. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 2010

1,286 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Immunoglobulins are heterodimeric proteins composed of two heavy (H) and two light (L) chains. They can be separated functionally into variable (V) domains that binds antigens and constant (C) domains that specify effector functions such as activation of complement or binding to Fc receptors. The variable domains are created by means of a complex series of gene rearrangement events, and can then be subjected to somatic hypermutation after exposure to antigen to allow affinity maturation. Each V domain can be split into three regions of sequence variability, termed the complementarity determining regions, or CDRs, and four regions of relatively constant sequence termed the framework regions, or FRs. The three CDRs of the H chain are paired with the three CDRs of the L chain to form the antigen binding site, as classically defined. There are five main classes of heavy chain C domains. Each class defines the IgM, IgG, IgA, IgD, and IgE isotypes. IgG can be split into four subclasses, IgG1, IgG2, IgG3, and IgG4, each with its own biologic properties; and IgA can similarly be split into IgA1 and IgA2. The constant domains of the H chain can be switched to allow altered effector function while maintaining antigen specificity.

Subfields: Immunology, Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/58c85778693cfcf1ce68e6fd9a5b5af86fcf6b37

Citations in the corpus