title: High-titre antibodies to a foreign epitope elicited by affinity-purified hybrid LamB proteins.
abstract: A monoclonal antibody to the LamB protein, named LBS-1, was developed and characterized. It was then covalently bound to Sepharose and used to purify hybrid LamB proteins from Escherichia coli crude extracts. A peptide of the interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) NH2-terminal region, inserted within the LamB protein, was used as a model to assess immune response in mice injected with sonicated E. coli extract or with affinity-purified hybrid LamB protein. None of the mice immunized with the whole bacterial extract produced antibodies to IFN-gamma. On the other hand, all the mice immunized with the purified protein developed high-titre anti-IFN-gamma antibodies. These results might be due to the presence of bacterial components capable of masking the LamB protein to the immune system. The use of affinity-purified LamB proteins may constitute in some instances a more effective way of generating an immune response against foreign epitopes as opposed to whole bacterial antigens.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Microbiology, University of Brescia, Italy.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Gargiulo
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Monti
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Caruso
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Manca
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Martinelli
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: De Rango
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Flamminio
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Preti
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Turano
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000276:immunology; D000917:Antibody Formation; D000918:Antibody Specificity; D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification; D001428:Bacterial Vaccines / Q000276:immunology / Q000494:pharmacology; D001483:Base Sequence; D000939:Epitopes / Q000276:immunology*; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D006825:Hybridomas / Q000378:metabolism; D007114:Immunization; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000276:immunology; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D018272:Porins; D011991:Receptors, Virus / Q000276:immunology* / Q000302:isolation & purification*
chemical_list: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins; D001428:Bacterial Vaccines; D000939:Epitopes; D018272:Porins; D011991:Receptors, Virus; C016532:maltoporins; D007371:Interferon-gamma