Antibody Function

Alexander H Lucas, Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute, Oakland, California, USA

Published online: July 2003

DOI: 10.1038/npg.els.0000907

Antibodies are members of the immunoglobulin family, and they comprise a principal component of the adaptive humoral immune response to foreign antigenic stimuli. Antibodies protect against infectious diseases by specifically recognizing a large universe of antigens and by mediating biological effector mechanisms, in concert with cells and other molecules, to neutralize and eliminate infectious agents and their products.

Keywords: antibody; immunoglobulin; variable region; constant region; fab; Fc

Figure 1. An IgG molecule.
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 References
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 Further Reading
    Alzari PM, Lascombe M-B and Poljak RJ (1988) Three-dimensional structure of antibodies. Annual Review of Immunology 6: 555–580.
    book Frazer JK and Capra JD (1999) "Structure and function of antibodies". In: Paul WE (ed.) Fundamental Immunology, 4th edn, pp 37–74. Philadelphia: Lippincott-Raven.
    book Honjo T and Alt FW (eds) (1995) Immunoglobulin Genes, 2nd edn. San Diego: Academic Press.
    book Ochs HD, Smith CIE and Puck JM (eds) (1998) Primary Immunodeficiency Diseases, A Molecular and Genetic Approach. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

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Article Title: Antibody Function
 
How to Cite close
Lucas, Alexander H(Jul 2003) Antibody Function. In: eLS. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester. http://www.els.net [doi: 10.1038/npg.els.0000907]