Comparative sequence and immunochemical analyses of murine monoclonal anti-morphine antibodies

A more complete characterization is given for four previously reported anti-morphine monoclonal antibodies that bind the hapten with high affinity and to which anti-idiotypic antibodies have been raised that mimic opiates at receptor binding sites. The variable (V) region nucleotide sequences of the heavy (H) and light (L) chains of these murine antibodies have been determined by direct sequencing of the poly(A)+ mRNAs using specific oligonucleotide primers and dideoxynucleotide chain-termination, and the deduced amino acid sequences are compared. The primary sequences predicted for the VH segments of 10C3 and 11C7 antibodies are closely associated with the VHIIIB subgroup of mouse H-chain (80 to 82% homology), while those for the V-regions of 3B9 and 12D4 H-chains correlate well with the VHIIC subgroup (64 to 67% homology). The 11C7, 10C3, 3B9 and 12D4 hybridoma cell lines use JH1, JH2, JH3 and JH4 DNA segments, respectively. Since considerable variations in length and primary sequence in the CDR3 (complementarity determining region) peptides of all the H-chains are evident, conservation of the D-region structure does not appear to be necessary for effective hapten binding. However, sequence homologies of the CDR2 regions of all the antibodies indicate that residues Glu H-50, Ile H-51, Pro H-52a and Tyr H-59 are conserved, and that these segments may be more critically involved in binding than the other H and L-chain hypervariable regions. The marked VL sequence homology, greater than 93%, among the L-chains and consensus lambda sequence, suggests derivation from a similar or identical VL germ-line gene. The L-chain J-region peptides for all the antibodies are classified JL1 and no VL-JL junctional diversity was apparent. The antimorphine antibody L-chains are apparently generated by the joining of a specific J-gene segment to a single germ-line V-gene segment, and minor sequence variations are the result of somatic mutations within the coding region. The leader sequence for one of the H-chains was determined. The inhibition of morphine binding by phenoxybenzylation or iodination of the affinity-purified immunoglobulins indicates the involvement of a single tyrosyl residue within or close to the antibody-combining site for the opiate. This conclusion is supported by the sequence data and nuclear magnetic resonance measurements reported in the accompanying paper, in which the results are used to interpret nuclear magnetic resonance measurements on one of the ligand-antibody systems. The possible importance of additional contact amino acids, tryptophan, aspartic and/or glutamic acids, is discussed.