Immunoglobulin (Ig) Structurecontinued Immunology Review 382
Light chain
hypervariable
regions
Intrachain
disulfide bonds
Interchain
disulfide bonds
Fab
Fc
Amino terminal
Carboxy terminal
Antigen
binding
Biological
activity
mediation
Heavy chain
hypervariable
regions
Light chain
Heavy chain
Hinge region
Complement binding region
V
L
VH
C
L
C
H 1
C
H2C
H 3
Carbohydrate
Structure of the basic immunoglobulin unit. VH = variable region heavy chain; VL = variable region light chain; CH = constant
region heavy chain; CL = constant region light chain. (From Harmening DM. Clinical Hematology and Fundamentals of Hemostasis, 5th ed.
Philadelphia: FA Davis; 2009:502.)