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Structure of Monoclonal Antibodies

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Biobetters

Part of the book series: AAPS Advances in the Pharmaceutical Sciences Series ((AAPS,volume 19))

Abstract

Immunoglobulins (Ig) or antibodies (Ab) are the key functional units of the humoral immune system. Antibody molecules have a highly specialized structure that can mediate biological response upon specifically binding to an antigen. This chapter introduces readers to the chemical structure of antibodies, with specific focus on the structure of immunoglobulin G (IgG). The chapter also highlights functionally important IgG domains and their susceptibility to chemical degradation.

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Abbreviations

ADCC:

Antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity

CDC:

Complement-dependent cytotoxicity

CDR:

Complementarity-determining region

CH :

Constant heavy chain

CL :

Constant light chain

Fab:

Antigen binding fragment

Fc:

Fragment crystallizable

Ig:

Immunoglobulin

mAbs:

Monoclonal antibodies

MBL:

Mannan binding lectin

MR:

Mannose receptor

SpA:

Staphylococcal protein A

SpG:

Streptococcal protein G

VH :

Variable heavy chain

VL :

Variable light chain

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Industrial and Physical Pharmacy, Purdue University, Robert E. Heine Pharmacy Building, 575 Stadium Mall Drive, West Lafayette, IN, 47907-2091, USA

    Balakrishnan S. Moorthy, Bo Xie, Ehab M. Moussa, Lavanya K. Iyer, Saradha Chandrasekhar, Jainik P. Panchal & Elizabeth M. Topp

Authors
  1. Balakrishnan S. Moorthy
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  2. Bo Xie
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  3. Ehab M. Moussa
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  4. Lavanya K. Iyer
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  5. Saradha Chandrasekhar
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  6. Jainik P. Panchal
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  7. Elizabeth M. Topp
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Elizabeth M. Topp .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Drug Evaluation and Research, Food and Drug Administration, Division of Biotechnology Review and Research III, Office of Biotechnology Products, Silver Spring, Maryland, USA

    Amy Rosenberg

  2. Genentech, Inc., South San Francisco, California, USA

    Barthélemy Demeule

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© 2015 American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists

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Moorthy, B.S. et al. (2015). Structure of Monoclonal Antibodies. In: Rosenberg, A., Demeule, B. (eds) Biobetters. AAPS Advances in the Pharmaceutical Sciences Series, vol 19. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-2543-8_6

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