Question

How would you go about making a catalytic antibody which can mimic the hydrolytic reactions normally carried out by a serine proteinase. For example, if the reaction catalyzed by Enzyme Q is:

A → B with a transition state AB‡, how can you make antibodies that catalyze the same reaction?

Answer 1

A serine proteinase enzyme cleaves peptide bonds in proteins in which serine serves as the nucleophilic amino acid at the active site. An enzyme lowers the activation energy of the transition state and thereby enables the formation of the less favorable molecular intermediates. If an antibody of an enzyme is developed to bind to a molecule structurally similar to the transition state then it would stabilize the intermediate and would catalyze the reaction just lika a normal enzyme. Those catalytic antibodies are produced when an antibody is immunized with a hapten molecule.