CD59 and schistosomiasis: By treating with reducing agent, the protein structure was altered sufficiently to ablate recognition by these antibodies, indicating that the schistosomiasis-induced antibodies recognised only conformational epitopes on the recombinant protein The disulfide bonds in Ly-6 proteins are known to be important for their structural conformation, stabilising the typical three-finger motif; for example, when CD59 is treated with reducing agent it loses its ability to inhibit the complement system [39].