Antigen nature and complexity influence human antibody light chain usage and specificity.

ABSTRACT: Human antibodies consist of a heavy chain and one of two possible light chains, kappa (κ) or lambda (λ). Here we tested how these two possible light chains influence the overall antibody response to polysaccharide and protein antigens by measuring light chain usage in human monoclonal antibodies from antibody secreting cells obtained following vaccination with Pneumovax23. Remarkably, we found that individuals displayed restricted light chain usage to certain serotypes and that lambda antibodies have different specificities and modes of cross-reactivity than kappa antibodies. Thus, at both the monoclonal (7 kappa, no lambda) and serum levels (145μg/mL kappa, 2.82μg/mL lambda), antibodies to cell wall polysaccharide were nearly always kappa. The pneumococcal reference serum 007sp was analyz

SUBMITTER: Smith K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4876604 | biostudies-literature | 2016 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature