title: Human cytomegalovirus structural proteins: immune reaction against pp150 synthetic peptides.
abstract: In the present study, several peptides of the major structural antigen (pp150) of human cytomegalovirus (CMV) have been chemically synthesized and tested by a modified slot blotting procedure for their ability to bind CMV-specific immunoglobulin G (IgG) and IgM present in human sera. The sequences of the peptides were deduced on the basis of either (i) their presence in a fusion protein already known to be frequently recognized by human antibody or (ii) their high content of hydrophilic amino acids as deduced from the published nucleotide sequence. An important IgM-binding epitope was found to be located in the last 38 amino acids at the carboxy terminus of the molecule. This region reacts with anti-CMV IgM present in the great majority (83.3%) of IgM-positive human sera, and adsorption experiments have shown that IgM titers to the entire pp150 decrease 25 to 50% in most sera previously absorbed with this region. The overall results obtained endorse the continued synthesis of other sequences in order to define a group of peptides sensitive and specific enough to replace the virus and infected cells as an antigenic substrate in the serological evaluation of anti-CMV antibody.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: M P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Landini
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ripalti
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sra
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pouletty
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D003587:Cytomegalovirus / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology*; D000939:Epitopes / Q000737:chemistry; D006801:Humans; D007120:Immunochemistry; D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D007075:Immunoglobulin M; D007163:Immunosorbent Techniques; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010750:Phosphoproteins; D014763:Viral Matrix Proteins; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D000939:Epitopes; D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D007075:Immunoglobulin M; D010750:Phosphoproteins; D014763:Viral Matrix Proteins; D014764:Viral Proteins; C056367:pp150 protein, Cytomegalovirus