Molecular characterization of a human anti‐Rh(D) antibody with a DH segment encoded by a germ‐line sequence

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Abstract
The λ‐light‐chain and λ‐heavy‐chain variable‐region genes of an anti‐Rh(D) (Rh, Rhesus; D, heavy‐chain diversity region) human monoclonal antibody secreted by lymphocytes transformed by the Epstein‐Barr virus have been cloned and sequenced. Sequence comparison of the anti‐Rh(D)mAb λ‐chain variable region with those of the other available human λ chains revealed that it belonged to the human VλI (Vλ, variable region of λ chain) subgroup. The greatest sequence similarity (80%) was observed with that of another anti‐Rh antibody λ‐chain directed against the Rh(c) antigen. For the VH (VH, variable region of heavy chain) sequence, the highest similarity (86%) was observed with the germline VHG3 gene which belongs to the VHI subgroup. The expressed DH sequence of the anti‐Rh(D) antibody is also of germline origin and complementarity‐determining region 3 is thus produced by VH‐DH and DH‐JH (J, joining region) joining without recombination of multiple DH gene segments.