Structural mechanism of high affinity FcRI recognition of immunoglobulin G

Antibody-based immunotherapies are becoming powerful means of modern medicine for treating cancers and autoimmune diseases. The increasing popularity of antibody-based treatment demands a better understanding of antibody functions and in particular, their interaction with Fc receptors as effectiveness of antibodies often depends on their ability to activate or avoid effector cell functions through Fc receptors. Until recently, our understanding of antibody recognition by Fc receptors is based on the structures of low affinity Fc receptor in complex with Fc. These structural studies provided significant insights to our understanding of how an IgG antibody generally docks on Fc receptor and the requirement of immune complex formation for effector cell activations. They are less informative, however, to the molecular forces underlying the vast different affinities between antibodies and their Fc receptors. Recently, the structure of the high affinity FcRI in complex with IgG-Fc has been determined. This review will focus on the knowledge learned from the high affinity complex structural work and a potential receptor-glycan interaction as an important contribution to the receptor affinity.