Figure 1.
Amino acid sequences of HCDR3 and LCDR3 of IgG+ B-CLL cases. Amino acid sequences are shown flanked by the 3′ end of FR3 and the 5′ end of FR4. A consensus sequence is shown for each. Color code: identical amino acids are in brown, chemically similar amino acids in blue, unrelated amino acids in black, and differences within areas of identity or similarity in red. (A) HCDR3. The consensus sequence consists of two hydrophilic amino acids (blue), seven amino acids that represent a portion of the germline D6–13 gene segment (brown), a glycine or serine (both with small side chains; brown), one to two variable amino acids, and five amino acids from the 5′ portion of the germline JH5b segment. (B) LCDR3. The LCDR3 sequences of all cases are identical, except for a difference in the last amino acid in CLL no. 039, due to the use of the Jκ2 segment. In each case, an arginine occurs at the Vκ-Jκ junction (underlined and in italics).