The conformation of the main immunogenic region on the α‐subunit of muscle acetylcholine receptor is affected by neighboring receptor subunits

FEBS Letters

Fostieri, Efrosini²  Beeson, David¹  Tzartos, Socrates J.² 

[1] Neurosciences Group, Institute of Molecular Medicine, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, UK;Department of Biochemistry, Hellenic Pasteur Institute, 127 Vas. Sofias Av., 115 21 Athens, Greece

关键词: Acetylcholine receptor;    Monoclonal antibody;    Main immunogenic region;    Epitope conformation;    AChR;    acetylcholine receptor;    mAb;    monoclonal antibody;    MG;    myasthenia gravis;    MIR;    main immunogenic region;    RIA;    radioimmunoassay;   

DOI  :  10.1016/S0014-5793(00)01980-3

学科分类：生物化学/生物物理

来源: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

【 摘 要 】

Myasthenia gravis (MG) is caused by autoantibodies to the acetylcholine receptor (AChR). Experiments with fetal (α₂βγδ) and adult (α₂βϵδ) AChR and with recombinant subunit dimers showed that some monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against the main immunogenic region (MIR), located on the α-subunit of the AChR, bind better to fetal AChR and to αγ subunit dimer than to adult AChR and αϵ dimer and equally to both αβ and αδ. However, other anti-MIR mAbs prefer adult AChR and αϵ dimer, bind well to αβ but weakly to αδ. These results suggest that the MIR conformation is affected by the neighboring γ/ϵ- and δ-subunits and may contribute to understanding the antibody specificities in MG.

【 授权许可】

Unknown