Identification of the epitopes of calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) for two anti-CGRP monoclonal antibodies by 2D NMR

The interactions between calcitonin gene-related peptide and FAB fragments prepared from two different high-affinity anti-CGRP monoclonal antibodies (CB3 and CD1) have been studied at physiological pH using the ability of ¹H NMR to detect selectively regions of dynamic flexibility. The 37-residue peptide retains considerable flexibility in regions of its sequence when bound to both antibodies; in each case, more than half of the residues can be seen to have linewidths little perturbed from those of the free peptide. However, the regions where substantial broadening of resonances occur, attributed to substantially reduced motional freedom of the peptide resulting from interactions within the antibody combining site, differ greatly in the two cases. In the complex with CB3 the results indicate that the restricted residues lie exclusively within the C-terminal half of the peptide, and include residues 25 to 32 and the terminal two residues (36 and 37). By contrast, in the complex with CD1, the conformationally restricted residues appear to lie predominantly within the N-terminal half of the CGRP molecule, particularly residues 4-16, although several residues in the middle section of the sequence (22-31) have reduced conformational freedom. These findings, consistent with the results from immunological assays, add considerably to our knowledge of the epitopes.