Antigenicity and Immunogenicity of Antigenized Antibodies. Studies on B and T Cells

Abstract

This laboratory has been testing the possibility of using the complementarity-determining region (CDR) loops of the antibody molecule to express oligopeptide epitopes in an immunologically-accessible and conformationally-suitable way. The new process consists in grafting peptides epitopes derived from antigens other than immunoglobulins into antibody CDR loops [1], This process, “antibody antigenization,” utilizes the immunoglobulin fold as a scaffold to immobilize and present oligopeptide epitopes to the immune system as the integral part of the immunoglobulin molecule. Here we describe some of the initial results with antigenized antibodies (^AgAbs).

Key Words:

• antibody antigenization
• immunogenicity
• antigenicity
• B cells
• T cells
• viral immunity