The affinity of an antibody for its antigen is primarily determined by the specific sequence and structural arrangement of the complementarity-determining regions (CDRs). Recent evidence, however, points toward a nontrivial relation between the CDR and distal sites: variations in the binding strengths have been observed upon mutating residues separated from the paratope by several nanometers, thus suggesting the existence of a communication network within antibodies, whose extension and relevance might be deeper than insofar expected. In this work, we test this hypothesis by means of molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of the IgG4 monoclonal antibody pembrolizumab, an approved drug that targets the programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1). The molecule is simulated in both the apo and holo states, totalling 4 μs of MD trajectory. The analysis of these simulations shows that the bound antibody explores a restricted range of conformations with respect to the apo one, and that the global conformation of the molecule correlates with that of the CDR. These results support the hypothesis that pembrolizumab featues a multi-scale hierarchy of intertwined global and local conformational changes. The analysis pipeline developed in this work is general, and it can help shed further light on the mechanistic aspects of antibody function.

Communication pathways bridge local and global conformations in an IgG4 antibody / Tarenzi, Thomas; Rigoli, Marta; Potestio, Raffaello. - In: SCIENTIFIC REPORTS. - ISSN 2045-2322. - 11:1(2021), pp. 23197.1-23197.12. [10.1038/s41598-021-02323-x]

Communication pathways bridge local and global conformations in an IgG4 antibody

Tarenzi, Thomas;Rigoli, Marta;Potestio, Raffaello
2021-01-01

Abstract

The affinity of an antibody for its antigen is primarily determined by the specific sequence and structural arrangement of the complementarity-determining regions (CDRs). Recent evidence, however, points toward a nontrivial relation between the CDR and distal sites: variations in the binding strengths have been observed upon mutating residues separated from the paratope by several nanometers, thus suggesting the existence of a communication network within antibodies, whose extension and relevance might be deeper than insofar expected. In this work, we test this hypothesis by means of molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of the IgG4 monoclonal antibody pembrolizumab, an approved drug that targets the programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1). The molecule is simulated in both the apo and holo states, totalling 4 μs of MD trajectory. The analysis of these simulations shows that the bound antibody explores a restricted range of conformations with respect to the apo one, and that the global conformation of the molecule correlates with that of the CDR. These results support the hypothesis that pembrolizumab featues a multi-scale hierarchy of intertwined global and local conformational changes. The analysis pipeline developed in this work is general, and it can help shed further light on the mechanistic aspects of antibody function.
2021
1
Tarenzi, Thomas; Rigoli, Marta; Potestio, Raffaello
Communication pathways bridge local and global conformations in an IgG4 antibody / Tarenzi, Thomas; Rigoli, Marta; Potestio, Raffaello. - In: SCIENTIFIC REPORTS. - ISSN 2045-2322. - 11:1(2021), pp. 23197.1-23197.12. [10.1038/s41598-021-02323-x]
File in questo prodotto:
File Dimensione Formato  
ERC_2021_Tarenzi_SciRep.pdf

accesso aperto

Tipologia: Versione editoriale (Publisher’s layout)
Licenza: Creative commons
Dimensione 6.94 MB
Formato Adobe PDF
6.94 MB Adobe PDF Visualizza/Apri

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11572/326938
Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? 2
  • Scopus 3
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? 3
  • OpenAlex ND
social impact