Immunoglobulin G structure and rheumatoid factor epitopes.

Antibodies are important for immunity and exist in several classes (IgM, IgD, IgA, IgG, IgE). They are composed of symmetric dimeric molecules with two antigen binding regions (Fab) and a constant part (Fc), usually depicted as Y-shaped molecules. Rheumatoid factors found in patients with rheumatoid arthritis are autoantibodies binding to IgG and paradoxically appear to circulate in blood alongside with their antigen (IgG) without reacting with it.

Discrimination of Isoleucine and Leucine by Dimethylation-Assisted MS3.

Protein sequencing by mass spectrometry has transformed the field of biopharmaceutical analysis, but a missing part in the analytical toolkit is the ability to distinguish between the isomeric residues isoleucine and leucine because it is a requisite for efficient analysis of the primary structure of proteins. To address this need, we have developed a novel mass spectrometric method that combines reductive dimethylation and MS3 fragmentation with LCMS peptide mapping. The dimethylation of peptide N-termini leads to intense a1-ions upon collision-induced fragmentation, and further fragmentation of the isoleucine/leucine a1-ion leads to informative spectra with fragments that can discriminate between the two isomers.