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Richard D. deShazo, MD; Manuel Lopez, MD; John E. Salvaggio, MD

JAMA. 1987;258(20):3011-3031.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

ANTIBODIES AND IMMUNOGLOBULINS

Antibodies—The Secreted Products of Plasma Cells

ANTIBODIES are synthesized and secreted primarily by plasma cells, the progeny of B lymphocytes. Since many different clones of cells participate in the immune responses to a single antigen, antibodies are heterogeneous with respect to their structure and function. However, proteins carrying antibody activity, all of which migrate electrophoretically as -globulins, belong to different immunoglobulin classes (ie, IgG, IgA, IgM, IgD, and IgE).

All immunoglobulins are composed of two polypeptide chains of different molecular size, the light and heavy chains. A monomeric immunoglobulin molecule consists of two heavy and two light chains. These polypeptide chains are arranged in the shape of a Y. The arms of the Y are composed of the aminoterminal halves of the heavy chain and the entire light chain, while the carboxy-terminal halves of the two heavy chains constitute the stem. The arms and the stem are . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

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