title: Structural basis of antigen mimicry in a clinically relevant melanoma antigen system.
abstract: Although mimics of human tumor antigens are effective immunogens to overcome host unresponsiveness to the nominal antigen, the structural basis of this mimicry remains poorly defined. Therefore, in this study we have characterized the structural basis of the human high molecular weight-melanoma-associated antigen (HMW-MAA) mimicry by the mouse anti-idiotypic (anti-id) monoclonal antibody (mAb) MK2-23. Using x-ray crystallography, we have characterized the three-dimensional structure of the anti-id mAb MK2-23 Fab' and shown that its heavy chain complementarity-determining region (CDR3) (H3) and its light chain CDR1 (L1) are closely associated. These moieties are the source of HMW-MAA mimicry, since they display partial amino acid sequence homology along with a similar structural fold with the HMW-MAA core protein. Furthermore, a 15-residue peptide comprising the H3 loop of anti-id mAb MK2-23 demonstrates HMW-MAA-like in vitro and in vivo reactivity. This peptide in conjunction with the structural data will facilitate the characterization of the effect of the degree of antigen mimicry on the induction of a self-antigen-specific immune response by a mimic.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, New York 14263, USA.
authors.forename: Chien-Chung
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Francisco G
authors.initials: FG
authors.lastname: Hernandez-Guzman
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.forename: Xinhui
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Soldano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ferrone
authors.forename: Debashis
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ghosh
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D000888:Antibodies, Anti-Idiotypic / Q000737:chemistry; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal / Q000737:chemistry; D000941:Antigens / Q000737:chemistry*; D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm / Q000737:chemistry; D019921:Biotinylation; D019496:Cancer Vaccines / Q000737:chemistry; D003165:Complement System Proteins; D018360:Crystallography, X-Ray; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D006860:Hydrogen Bonding; D008545:Melanoma / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008958:Models, Molecular; D018716:Molecular Mimicry; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010455:Peptides / Q000737:chemistry; D011485:Protein Binding; D011487:Protein Conformation; D017433:Protein Structure, Secondary; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
chemical_list: D000888:Antibodies, Anti-Idiotypic; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D000941:Antigens; D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm; D019496:Cancer Vaccines; D010455:Peptides; D003165:Complement System Proteins