Objective(s): We previously conducted an in silico research on the interactions between the ribosome display-selected single chain variable fragment (scFv) and factor H binding protein (fHbp) of Neisseria meningitidis. We found that heavy chain variable (VH) fragment of this scFv had considerable affinity to fHbp. These results led us to evaluate the ability of this sm...

mAb Z22 is a highly selective IgG anti-Z-DNA Ab from an immunized C57BL/6 mouse. Previous studies showed that heavy chain CDR3 amino acids are critical for Z-DNA binding by the single chain variable fragment (scFv) comprising both V region heavy chain (VH) and V region light chain (VL) of mAb Z22 and that the VH domain alone binds Z-DNA with an affinity similar to that of whole variable fragmen...

A series of expression cassettes which mediate secretion or surface display of antibody fragments was stably integrated in the chromosome of Lactobacillus paracasei. L. paracasei producing surface-anchored variable domain of llama heavy chain (VHH) (ARP1) directed against rotavirus showed efficient binding to rotavirus and protection in the mouse model of rotavirus infection.

Immunization of strain A mice with p-azophenylarsonate-conjugated protein stimulates B cells that synthesize anti-p-azophenylarsonate antibodies. A large fraction of these cells produce antibodies with variable (V) regions encoded by a single heavy chain V gene segment together with multiple combinations of diversity, heavy chain joining, light chain variable, and light chain joining gene segme...

Increasing evidence supports the prognostic relevance of specific immunoglobulin heavy chain variable (IGHV) genes or stereotyped B-cell receptors (BCR) in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). The clonotypic BCRs differ in their specificity and affinity toward classical antigens and/or superantigens. The BCR-triggered mechanisms are distinct but could explain in part the different clinical behav...

The ancestral gene for immunoglobulin light-chain variable regions (Ig VLs) of the kappa as well as the lambda class apparently arose from about 12 tandem repeats of the 48-base-long primordial building block sequence TCT-TGC-GCA-GTA-AGT-CCA-CTC-CAG-GTC-ATA-TCC-AGT-CAG-GCT-GCT-GAA. Even today, amino acid residues 67 to 82 of each Ig V kappa L are still specified by a direct descendant in toto o...

An individual B cell expresses only one functional light and one functional heavy chain on the cell surface. This process, termed allelic exclusion, arises as a consequence of the fact that the rearrangement of gene segments to assemble complete variable genes requires that only one functional VwDH:JH and one functional VL]L rearrangement occur in each B cell (1, 2). Presumably a VwDH:JH rearra...

In this paper the flatness [M. Fliess, J. Lévine, P. Martin, and P. Rouchon, Internat. J. Control, 61 (1995), pp. 1327–1361, M. Fliess, J. Lévine, P. Martin, and P. Rouchon, IEEE Trans. Automat. Control, 44 (1999), pp. 922–937] of heavy chain systems, i.e., trolleys carrying a fixed length heavy chain that may carry a load, is addressed in the partial derivatives equations framework. We paramet...

Recombinant cytokines are valuable tools for functional studies and candidates for vaccine additives or therapeutic use in various diseases. They can also be used to generate specific antibodies to analyze the roles of different cytokines during immune responses. We generated a mammalian expression system for recombinant cytokines using the equine IgG1 heavy chain constant region as a tag for d...

In an Abelson-virus-transformed mouse lymphoid cell line with pre-B-cell characteristics, a few cells continuously produce heavy chains from both homologs. Each chain has a different variable region. These cells thereby exhibit allelic inclusion rather than allelic exclusion.