affinity maturation

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Affinity Maturation

The increased average affinity of antibodies to an antigen, which follows immunisation. Affinity maturation results from an increase of specific and more homogeneous IgG antibodies, and follows a less specific and more heterogeneous early response by IgM molecules.

affinity maturation

The mechanism during an immune response that produces antibodies with a strong ability to bind to a foreign antigen over time. Affinity maturation is produced by changes in the genes that encode immunoglobulin G (IgG) and by increased survival of those B lymphocytes that produce antibodies with the greatest ability to destroy a particular antigen. Increased affinity occurs only when B-cell activation is stimulated by helper T cells.

affinity

1. attraction; a tendency to seek out or unite with another object or substance.

2. in chemistry, the tendency of two substances to form strong or weak chemical bonds forming molecules or complexes.

3. in immunology, the thermodynamic bond strength of an antigen-antibody complex.

antibody affinity

the strength of the binding interaction between antigen and antibody.

drug affinity

the attraction of a particular class of receptor to a drug, at a level sufficient to give an observable reaction. Such a drug is an agonist.

affinity maturation

the increased affinity of antibody for an antigen which occurs during the course of an immune response.

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References in periodicals archive ?

XOMA's mAb platform includes leading commercial antibody display phage libraries, hybridoma, Human Engineering[TM], affinity maturation technologies, and a fully integrated product development infrastructure, including cell line and process development, preclinical and clinical functions, and manufacturing.

Rodman & Renshaw Healthcare Conference 2006 Presenter Profiles

Furthermore, it is important to note that no affinity maturation was needed in order to achieve these results, which should hence shorten the preclinical development time," stated Prof.

PIERIS Announces Breakthrough in Anticalin(R) Technology; Human ANTICALIN(R) with picomolar affinity against commercially relevant protein target

The specificity and affinity achieved for some of these antibodies - and notably with no affinity maturation - is remarkable, and I believe speaks to the quality and power of Dyax's antibody libraries," commented Jack Morgan, Dyax Senior Vice President of Corporate Development and Business Operations.

Corvas and Dyax Announce Discovery of Fully Human Monoclonal Antibodies Against Endothelial Serine Proteases

This collaboration further validates our yeast-based antibody library construction, screening and affinity maturation technology.

Genetastix and Development Center for Biotechnology Announce Human Antibody Collaboration Agreement

Under the new agreement, Affitech will combine its proprietary antibody library technology and its automated affinity maturation process to generate human antibodies against targets provided by Nycomed Amersham Imaging.

Nycomed Amersham Imaging Extends Human Antibody Agreement With Affitech AS

The combination of Abgenix's high throughput selection technology and Abgenix's XenoMouse takes advantage of the natural in vivo affinity maturation process and the maintenance of the original heavy and light chain pairs.