Characteristics, Detection, and Clinical Relevance of Alloantibodies in Kidney Transplantation

Abstract

Almost four decades ago, Porter (Porter, 1970) and Edelman (Edelman, 1970) established the structure of antibodies (immunoglobulins). This discovery dramatically improved the understanding that antibodies function as both receptor and effector molecules. Humoral or antibody-mediated immunity requires noncovalent contact between antigens (ligands) and antibodies (receptors). Hypervariable regions of immunoglobulin light and heavy chains 1, 2, and 3, which are termed complementarity-determining regions (CDR), are primarily involved in the interaction with antigens (Figure 1).