title: Human papillomavirus types 6 and 11 have antigenically distinct strongly immunogenic conformationally dependent neutralizing epitopes.
abstract: Antibodies reactive to HPV types 6 and 11 were tested in ELISA and HPV-11 neutralization assays to determine whether these closely related types shared cross-reactive neutralizing epitopes. A series of HPV-11 neutralizing monoclonal antibodies (N-MAbs) that targeted conformational epitopes on infectious HPV-11 and HPV-11 L1 virus-like particles (VLPs) were tested for type-specificity of reactivity using intact HPV-6 L1 VLPs. Polyclonal antisera generated against intact HPV-6 L1 VLPs were also tested for HPV-11 neutralizing capacity using the athymic mouse xenograft system. The results demonstrated that conformationally dependent neutralizing epitopes on HPV-11 were very type-specific. Three of the four HPV-11 N-MAbs were negative for binding to HPV-6 L1 VLP, and the fourth demonstrated binding to HPV-6 L1 VLPs that was several orders of magnitude weaker than its binding to HPV-11 L1 VLP. The polyclonal anti-HPV-6 L1 VLP antiserum was only partially protective against HPV-11 infectivity even at a low dilution of 1:100. In contrast, polyclonal anti-HPV-11 L1 VLP antiserum was completely protective at dilutions greater than 1:10,000.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Hershey, Pennsylvania 17033.
authors.forename: N D
authors.initials: ND
authors.lastname: Christensen
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kirnbauer
authors.forename: J T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Schiller
authors.forename: S J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Ghim
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Schlegel
authors.forename: A B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Jenson
authors.forename: J W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Kreider
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D000956:Antigens, Viral / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000276:immunology; D016367:Baculoviridae / Q000235:genetics; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D003429:Cross Reactions; D000939:Epitopes / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000276:immunology; D051379:Mice; D008819:Mice, Nude; D009500:Neutralization Tests; D027383:Papillomaviridae / Q000276:immunology* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D018411:Spodoptera; D014771:Virion
chemical_list: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D000956:Antigens, Viral; D000939:Epitopes