Carbohydrate and domain architecture of an immature antibody glycoform exhibiting enhanced effector functions

Max Crispin1, Thomas A Bowden, Charlotte H Coles

  • 1Division of Structural Biology, Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, Roosevelt Drive, Headington, Oxford OX3 7BN, UK.

Antibodies contain a conserved glycosylation site that has emerged as a target for the modulation of antibody effector functions. The crystal structure of a biosynthetic intermediate of human IgG1, bearing immature oligomannose-type glycans and reported to display increased antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity, demonstrates that glycan engineering can bias the Fc to an open conformation primed for receptor binding.

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