Determining Thermal Stability Of Antibodies With A Nano DSC

Antibodies or immunoglobulins are a specific type of glycoprotein. There are billions of forms with different primary sequences and antigen binding sites. A typical antibody structure is Y-shaped. The tail is referred to as the Fc (fragment crystallizable) region and the two arms, the Fab (fragment, antigen binding) regions. The interaction between the antigen binding site and an antigen is extremely specific, which has made antibodies very highly desirable reagents when developing a wide variety of antigen detection assays.

Since antibodies demonstrate a strong structure-function relationship, the unfolding or denaturation temperature measured by DSC is associated with functional differences. In a DSC scan, an unfolding event appears as an endothermic peak that can be approximated as a Gaussian or normal distribution curve. The shape of the peak in the thermogram provides further insight into the properties of the sample. Discover an instrument with data analysis software capabilities that easily deconvolutes thermograms, enables differentiation between individual and interacting domains, and reports accurate Tm values.