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Heavy chain antibodies differ in structure to conventional antibodies lacking both the light chain and the first heavy chain constant domain (CH1). Characteristics of the antigen-binding variable heavy domain of the heavy chain antibody (VHH) including the smaller size, high solubility and stability make them an attractive alternative to more traditional antibody fragments for detailed NMR-based structural analysis. Here we report essentially complete backbone and side chain (15)N, (13)C and (1)H assignments for a free VHH. Analysis of the backbone chemical shift data obtained indicates that the VHH is comprised predominantly of β-sheets corresponding to nearly 60% of the protein backbone.

Camel antibodies have been widely investigated, but work has focused upon the unique heavy chain antibodies found across camelid species. These are homodimers, devoid of light chains and the first constant heavy chain domain. Camelid species also display conventional hetero-tetrameric antibodies with identical pairs of heavy and light chains; in Camelus dromedarius these constitute 25% of circulating antibodies. Few investigations have been made on this subset of antibodies and complete conventional camel IgG sequences have not been reported. Here we study the sequence diversity of functional variable and constant regions observed in 57 conventional heavy, 18 kappa and 35 lambda light chains of C. dromedarius and Camelus bactrianus. We detail sequences of the full kappa and lambda light chain, variable and CH1 region for IgG1a and IgG1b and the CH2 and CH3 region for IgG1a. The majority (60%) of IgG1 variable region sequences aligned with the human IgHV3 family (clan III) and had leader sequences beginning with MELG whereas the remaining sequences aligned with the IgHV4 (clan II) and had leader sequences beginning with MRLL. Distinct differences in CDR length were observed between the two; where CDR1 was typically 5 and 7 residues and CDR2 at 17 and 16 residues, respectively. CDR3 length of IgHV4 (range 11 to 20) was closer to that typical of VHH antibodies than that of IgHV3 (range 3 to 18 residues). Designed oligonucleotide primers have enabled identification of paired heavy and light chains of conventional camel antibodies from individual B cell clones., (Copyright © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The stability of therapeutic antibodies is a prime pharmaceutical concern. In this work we examined thermal stability differences between human IgG1 and IgG4 Fab domains containing the same variable regions using the thermofluor assay. It was found that the IgG1 Fab domain is up to 11°C more stable than the IgG4 Fab domain containing the same variable region. We investigated the cause of this difference with the aim of developing a molecule with the enhanced stability of the IgG1 Fab and the biological properties of an IgG4 Fc. We found that replacing the seven residues, which differ between IgG1 C(H) 1 and IgG4 C(H) 1 domains, while retaining the native IgG1 light-heavy interchain disulfide (L-H) bond, did not affect thermal stability. Introducing the IgG1 type L-H interchain disulfide bond (DSB) into the IgG4 Fab resulted in an increase in thermal stability to levels observed in the IgG1 Fab with the same variable region. Conversely, replacement of the IgG1 L-H interchain DSB with the IgG4 type L-H interchain DSB reduced the thermal stability. We utilized the increased stability of the IgG1 Fab and designed a hybrid antibody with an IgG1 C(H) 1 linked to an IgG4 Fc via an IgG1 hinge. This construct has the expected biophysical properties of both the IgG4 Fc and IgG1 Fab domains and may therefore be a pharmaceutically relevant format., (Copyright © 2012 The Protein Society.)