Specificity and overlap in gene segment-defined antibody repertoires.

ABSTRACT:

Background

To date several studies have sought to catalog the full suite of antibodies that humans naturally produce against single antigens or other specificities (repertoire). Here we analyze the properties of all sequenced repertoires in order to better understand the specificity of antibody responses. Specifically, we ask whether the large-scale sequencing of antibody repertoires might provide a diagnostic tool for detecting antigen exposure. We do this by examining the overlap in VH-, D-, and JH- segment usage among sequenced repertoires.

Results

We find that repertoire overlap in VH-, D-, and JH-segment use is least for VH segments and greatest for JH segments, consistent with there being more VH than JH segments in the human genome. We find that for any two antigens c

SUBMITTER: Arnaout RA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1277825 | biostudies-literature | 2005 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature