[HTML][HTML] Fc-galactosylation of human immunoglobulin gamma isotypes improves C1q binding and enhances complement-dependent cytotoxicity

B Peschke, CW Keller, P Weber, I Quast… - Frontiers in …, 2017 - frontiersin.org
B Peschke, CW Keller, P Weber, I Quast, JD Lünemann
Frontiers in immunology, 2017frontiersin.org
Binding of the complement component C1q to the CH2 domain of antigen-bound
immunoglobulin gamma (IgG) activates the classical complement pathway and depends on
its close proximity to Fc fragments of neighboring antibodies. IgG subclasses contain a
highly conserved asparagine 297 (N)-linked biantennary glycan within their CH2 domains,
the core structure of which can be extended with terminal galactose and sialic acid residues.
To investigate whether Fc-glycosylation regulates effector functions of human IgG …
Binding of the complement component C1q to the CH2 domain of antigen-bound immunoglobulin gamma (IgG) activates the classical complement pathway and depends on its close proximity to Fc fragments of neighboring antibodies. IgG subclasses contain a highly conserved asparagine 297 (N)-linked biantennary glycan within their CH2 domains, the core structure of which can be extended with terminal galactose and sialic acid residues. To investigate whether Fc-glycosylation regulates effector functions of human IgG subclasses, we cloned the antigen-binding region of the CD20-specific monoclonal antibody rituximab into IgG isotype expression vectors. We found that Fc-galactosylation enhances the efficacy of CD20-targeting complement-fixing antibodies for C1q binding and complement-mediated tumor cell lysis. Increased efficacies were restricted to IgG1 and IgG3 subclasses indicating that Fc-galactosylation alone is not sufficient for IgG2 and IgG4 to acquire complement-fixing properties. Addition of terminal galactose to the N-glycan specifically improved binding of C1q without changing antigen- and FcγRIIIa-binding affinities of IgG isotypes. These data indicate that Fc galactosylation can be harnessed to enhance the complement-activating properties of IgG1 and IgG3 antibodies.
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