Study of B72.3 combining sites by molecular modeling and site-directed mutagenesis

Protein Eng. 2000 May;13(5):339-44. doi: 10.1093/protein/13.5.339.

Abstract

A B72.3 Fab/sTn(2) complex was modeled from the known structure of B72.3 Fab and the dimeric Tn-serine cluster (sTn(2)). In the complex model, the side chains of 15 heavy- and light-chain complementarity-determining region (CDR) residues and the main chains of two light-chain CDR residues contact the sTn(2) epitope. Among 15 CDR residues which contact sTn(2) in the model, two heavy-chain residues (Ser95 and Tyr97) and light-chain CDR residue (Tyr96) have been confirmed in a previous study. To test the accuracy of the computational model, further site-directed mutagenesis was performed by alanine scanning on the remaining 12 residues that are predicted in the model to have side-chain interactions with sTn(2). Of these 12 mutants, eight that are all from the heavy-chain (His32Ala, Ala33Leu, Tyr50Ala, Ser52Ala, Asn52Ala, Asp56Ala, Lys58Ala and Tyr96Ala) had significantly reduced sTn(2) affinities, and four consisting of three light-chain mutations (Asn32Ala, Trp92Ala and Thr94Ala) and one heavy-chain mutation (His35Ala) retained wild-type sTn(2) affinity. On the whole, this evidence suggests that the complex model, although not perfect, is correct in many of its features. In a more general vein, these results lend credibility to the computational modeling approach for the study of the molecular basis of antigen-antibody complexes.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Antibodies, Monoclonal / chemistry*
  • Antibodies, Monoclonal / genetics
  • Antibodies, Monoclonal / immunology
  • Antibodies, Neoplasm / chemistry*
  • Antibodies, Neoplasm / genetics
  • Antibodies, Neoplasm / immunology
  • Models, Molecular
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Mutagenesis, Site-Directed
  • Protein Conformation
  • Tumor Cells, Cultured

Substances

  • Antibodies, Monoclonal
  • Antibodies, Neoplasm
  • B72.3 antibody