High-titre antibodies to a foreign epitope elicited by affinity-purified hybrid LamB proteins.
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.
Gargiulo
F
F
Institute of Microbiology, University of Brescia, Italy.
Monti
E
E
Caruso
A
A
Manca
N
N
Martinelli
F
F
De Rango
C
C
Flamminio
G
G
Gao
J
J
Preti
A
A
Turano
A
A
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*
D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins; D001428:Bacterial Vaccines; D000939:Epitopes; D018272:Porins; D011991:Receptors, Virus; C016532:maltoporins; D007371:Interferon-gamma