Biopolymers and cell. 2008; 24 (1): 14 - 20

Affinity maturation of antibodies in the course of humoral immune response

S. A. Bobrovnik, M. A. Demchenko

The process of affinity maturation in the course of humoral immune response of BALB/c mice against horse muscle myoglobin was studied. For this purpose we used the method of determination of the affinity constants for high- and low-affinity antibodies, present in the mixture. Application of this method allowed us to determine the main characteristics of humoral immune response change in the course of the immune response against T-dependent protein antigen. It was shown that the affinity of antibodies, their quantity, and the proportion of high-affinity specific antibodies gradually increased during immune response development.

Keywords: affinity, affinity maturation, non-linear regression.