Light chain of immunoglobulin

J. W. Longworth, C. L. McLaughlin, and A. Solomon, Luminescence studies on Bence-Jones proteins and light chains of immunoglobulins and their subunits, Biochemistry 14, 2953-2959 (1976). 

It is estimated that more than 10 different antibody variants occur in every human being. This variability affects both the heavy and the light chains of immunoglobulins. 

Solomon, A., Frangione, B., and Franklin, E. C., Bence Jones proteins and light chains of immunoglobulins. Preferential association of the V lambda VI subgroup of human fight chains with amyloidosis AL (lambda). J. Clin. Invest. 70, 453-460 (1982). 

As known from x-ray crystallographic studies on several antibody molecules and related fragments the two heavy and two light chains of immunoglobulins are... 

Bence Jones proteins (BJP), members of the paraproteins often found in the blood and urine of patients with multiple myeloma consisting of free light chains of immunoglobulins. 

Presumably, the same conclusions could be reached in regard to ovalbumin synthesis induced in the oviduct by estradiol (Harrison et al., 1974 Sullivan et al., (1973), and also in regard to the light chains of immunoglobulin (Faust et al, 1974) 1 results of these experiments, confirmed the idea that the amplification is characteristic only of rDNA. 

In 1963, shortly after the four-chain model for immunoglobulins was proposed, Dray and Nisonoff showed that immunoglobulin molecules from rabbits heterozygous for allotypic determinants at a light chain locus contain either light chains of one allotype, or of the other, but not both. These authors did not interpret the results... 

Gm and Inv are amino acid sequences occurring in the light and heavy chains of immunoglobulins (16, 18). Antibodies specific to the Gm and Inv groups are found in some patients suffering from rheumatoid arthritis and in some healthy people. 

Chapman and Liljas, Fig. 3. The immunoglobulin fold, (a) The constant domain of the light chain of an antibody (b) the immunoglobulin domain of tick-bome encephalitis glycoprotein E (Rey et oL, 1995). 

Cutaneous amyloidosis localized amyloidosis of the skin Lambda immunoglobulin light chains of variable subgroup I Systemic... 

IgG, lgC(Fc = y) (Fig. 7-S) participates in precipitation reactions, toxin neutralizations, and complement Fixation. IgG is the major (70%) human Ig. The Fab tip Fixes antigen, and the Fc fragment can fix complement to yield agglutination or lysis. IgG is the only immunoglobulin that crosses the transplacental barrier and the neonatal stomach, so it provides maternal protection. IgG constitutes about 75% of the total Ab in the circulation. It is present at a concentration of about IS mg/niL and has a half-life of 3 weeks, the longest of any of the Ab types. The light chains of IgG can possess cither nor A variants. These slight differences in structure are culled isotypes, and the phenomenon is termed isotypic variation. 

The existence of such variation in the N-terminal half of the light chains while the C-terminal half remained constant was a new phenomenon in protein chemistry. As the number of sequences increased and as such data on mouse Bence Jones proteins and later on heavy chains of immunoglobulins were accumulated, it became clear that understanding the nature of the structural and genetic basis for the variable domains of both chains was crucial to understanding antibody specificity. 

T2. Takahashi, M., Yagi, Y., and Pressman, D., Preparation of fluorescent antibody reagents monospecific to light chains of human immunoglobulins. J. Immunol. 102, 1268-1273 (1969). 

The two heavy and two light chains of the immunoglobulin molecule form a tertiary structure resembling the letter Y (Figure 35-7). Disulfide bonds within each of the variable and constant domains stabilize the immunoglobu-... 

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