Immunoglobulin isotype refers to the slight phenotypic variations within the immunoglobulin gene family that encode for variant immunoglobulin heavy chains and immunoglobulin light chains. In humans, there are five heavy chain isotypes and two light chain isotypes, which differ in function and antigen responses primarily due to structure variability:
Heavy Chain
• IgA
• IgD
• IgG
• IgE
• IgM
Light Chain
• κ
• λ
The Immunoglobulins IgG and IgA are further grouped into subclasses (e.g. in Human IgG1, IgG2, IgG3, IgG4, IgA1 and IgA2) based on additional small differences in the amino acid heavy chain sequences.
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