Synthetic peptides selected from HLA-DQ and HLADP glycoproteins were coupled to Sepharose, and used for the isolation of anti-HLA Class II antibodies from the immune sera of rabbits immunized with human lymphoblastoid cells expressing Class II antigens.
Antibodies from early and late bleedings displayed remarkable differences in affinity for peptides and for soluble membrane proteins: these differences might be due to an early immune response directed preferentially against surface linear determinants, and to a late response to assembled (discontinuous) sites.
The possibility that such antibodies might be used for the identification of amino acid stretches involved in the formation of the same assembled determinant is considered.
Structural and biochemical characterization of Schistosoma mansoni class II fumarate hydratase enzyme