Monoclonal antibodies against the 70-kilodalton iron-regulated protein of Neisseria meningitidis are bactericidal and strain specific.
When grown under iron limitation, Neisseria meningitidis expresses a number of outer membrane proteins (OMPs), one of which is a 70-kilodalton (kDa) major OMP. After immunization of mice with outer membrane preparations of iron-depleted cells of strain H44/76 (B:15:P1.7,16), hybridoma cell lines producing monoclonal antibodies against the 70-kDa OMP were obtained. Some of these monoclonal antibodies demonstrated strong bactericidal activity against the homologous strain H44/76 in the presence of human complement, suggesting potential application of the 70-kDa OMP as a vaccine component. However, none of the 10 selected monoclonal antibodies was able to recognize the corresponding protein from five heterologous strains of various serosubtyping characteristics. A polyclonal anti-70-kDa OMP serum also did not react with the other strains. This result shows that immunodominant surface-exposed epitopes of the meningococcal 70-kDa iron-limitation-inducible OMP are strain specific.
Laboratory of Bacterial Vaccines, National Institute for Public Health and Environmental Protection, Bilthoven, The Netherlands.
A
A
Pettersson
B
B
Kuipers
M
M
Pelzer
E
E
Verhagen
R H
RH
Tiesjema
J
J
Tommassen
J T
JT
Poolman
D000818:Animals; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal / Q000276:immunology*; D000940:Antigenic Variation; D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins / Q000276:immunology*; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D001428:Bacterial Vaccines / Q000276:immunology; D001667:Binding, Competitive; D002460:Cell Line; D000939:Epitopes / Q000276:immunology; D007501:Iron / Q000378:metabolism; D033862:Iron-Binding Proteins; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008970:Molecular Weight; D009345:Neisseria meningitidis / Q000254:growth & development / Q000276:immunology*; D033902:Periplasmic Binding Proteins
D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D001428:Bacterial Vaccines; D000939:Epitopes; D033862:Iron-Binding Proteins; D033902:Periplasmic Binding Proteins; D007501:Iron