title: Analysis of the neutralizing antibody response to the measles virus using synthetic peptides of the haemagglutinin protein.
abstract: Infection or immunization with measles virus induces a protective immune reaction including neutralizing antibodies against the haemagglutinin and fusion protein. The reactivity of the polyclonal IgG response of sera obtained from late convalescent donors was studied, using overlapping 15mer peptides covering the complete sequence of the measles virus haemagglutinin. Most sera reacted with a similar set of peptides generating a characteristic binding pattern. The reactive peptides correspond to a region mediating cell hemolysis (aa310-325), to regions which serve as targets to neutralizing antibodies and to a putative transmembrane region (aa35-58). The latter region contains also a human T-cell epitope providing evidence of a non-random association of T- and B-cell epitopes. We also immunized different strains of mice and rabbits with measles virus. In contrast to the human sera, animal sera with strong neutralizing activities did not react with any of the H-protein peptides. The mostly weak reactivities with the linear sequences contrast with the strong neutralizing activities of the human or animal antibodies, suggesting that these primarily recognize the fusion protein or conformational epitopes of the haemagglutinin protein.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire National de Santé, Luxembourg.
authors.forename: C P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Muller
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Schroeder
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tu
authors.forename: N H
authors.initials: NH
authors.lastname: Brons
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Schneider
authors.forename: K H
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Wiesmüller
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000276:immunology; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D000939:Epitopes / Q000276:immunology; D006389:Hemagglutinins, Viral / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000276:immunology; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation / Q000276:immunology; D008457:Measles / Q000276:immunology*; D008459:Measles virus / Q000276:immunology*; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008808:Mice, Inbred CBA; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010455:Peptides / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000276:immunology*; D011817:Rabbits; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D014709:Vero Cells; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D000939:Epitopes; D006389:Hemagglutinins, Viral; D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D010455:Peptides; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins