Design and expression of a dimeric form of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 antibody 2G12 with increased neutralization potency.

ABSTRACT: The antigen-binding fragment of the broadly neutralizing human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) antibody 2G12 has an unusual three-dimensional (3D) domain-swapped structure with two aligned combining sites that facilitates recognition of its carbohydrate epitope on gp120. When expressed as an intact immunoglobulin G (IgG), 2G12 formed typical IgG monomers containing two combining sites and a small fraction of a higher-molecular-weight species, which showed a significant increase in neutralization potency (50- to 80-fold compared to 2G12 monomer) across a range of clade A and B strains of HIV-1. Here we show that the higher-molecular-weight species corresponds to a 2G12 dimer containing four combining sites and present a model for how intermolecular 3D domain swapping could create a 2G

SUBMITTER: West AP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2612297 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature