Human immunoglobulin G hinge regulates agonistic anti-CD40 immunostimulatory and antitumour activities through biophysical flexibility

Conserved regions of the antibody molecule impact its downstream biological effects. Here the authors show that a rigid hinge conformation increases the agonistic activity of CD40 and DR5 antibodies, distinctly from FcγR-binding, suggesting that the hinge and FcR binding regions can be separately modified to optimize therapies.