title: Anti-alpha-galactosyl antibodies recognizing epitopes terminating with alpha1,4-linked galactose: human natural and mouse monoclonal anti-NOR and anti-P1 antibodies.
abstract: The rare NOR erythrocytes, which are agglutinated by most human sera, contain unique glycosphingolipids (globoside elongation products) terminating with the sequence Galalpha1-4GalNAcbeta1-3Gal- recognized by common natural human antibodies. Anti-NOR antibodies were isolated from several human sera by affinity procedures, and their specificity was tested by inhibition of antibody binding to NOR-tri-polyacrylamide (PAA) conjugate (ELISA) by the synthetic oligosaccharides, Galalpha1-4GalNAcbeta1-3Gal (NOR-tri), Galalpha1-4GalNAc (NOR-di), Galalpha1-4Galbeta1-3Galbeta1-4Glc ((Gal)3Glc), and Galalpha1-4Gal (P1-di). Two major types of subspecificity of anti-NOR antibodies were found. Type 1 antibodies were found to react strongly with (Gal)3Glc and NOR-tri and weakly with P1-di and NOR-di, which indicated specificity for the trisaccharide epitope Galalpha1-4Gal/GalNAcbeta1-3Gal. Type 2 antibodies were specific to Galalpha1-4GalNAc, because they were inhibited most strongly by NOR-tri and NOR-di and were not (or very weakly) inhibited by (Gal)3Glc and P1-di. Monoclonal anti-NOR antibodies were obtained by immunizing mice with NOR-tri-human serum albumin (HSA) conjugate and were found to have type 2 specificity. All anti-NOR antibodies reacted specifically with NOR glycolipids on thin-layer plates. The cross-reactivity of type 1 anti-NOR antibodies with Galalpha1-4Gal drew attention to a possible antigenic relationship between NOR and blood group P system glycolipids. The latter glycolipids include Pk (Galalpha1-4Galbeta1-4Glc-Cer) present in all normal erythrocytes and P1 (Galalpha1-4Galbeta1-4GlcNAcbeta1-3Galbeta1-4Glc-Cer) present only in P1 erythrocytes. Sera of some P2 (P1-negative) persons contain natural anti-P1 antibodies. This prompted us to test the specificity of anti-P1 antibodies. Natural human anti-P1 isolated from serum of P2 individual and mouse monoclonal anti-P1 were best inhibited by Galalpha1-4Galbeta1-4GlcNAc (P1-tri) and did not react with NOR-tri and NOR-di. Monoclonal anti-P1 bound to Pk and P1 glycolipids and not to NOR glycolipids. These results indicated an entirely different specificity of anti-NOR and anti-P1 antibodies. Human serum samples differed in the content of anti-alpha-galactosyl antibodies, including both types of anti-NOR. In the sera of some individuals, type 1 or type 2 anti-NOR antibodies dominated, and other samples contained mixtures of both types of anti-NOR. The biological significance of these new abundant anti-alpha-galactosyl antibodies still awaits elucidation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunochemistry, Ludwik Hirszfeld Institute of Immunology and Experimental Therapy, Polish Academy of Sciences, Rudolf Weigl St. 12, 53-114 Wroclaw, Poland.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Duk
authors.forename: Grazyna
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kusnierz-Alejska
authors.forename: Elena Y
authors.initials: EY
authors.lastname: Korchagina
authors.forename: Nicolai V
authors.initials: NV
authors.lastname: Bovin
authors.forename: Stanislawa
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bochenek
authors.forename: Elwira
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lisowska
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal / Q000276:immunology*; D001789:Blood Group Antigens / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology*; D018604:Epitope Mapping; D000939:Epitopes / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology*; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology*; D005690:Galactose / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology*; D006017:Glycolipids / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D009844:Oligosaccharides / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D001789:Blood Group Antigens; D000939:Epitopes; D006017:Glycolipids; D009844:Oligosaccharides; D005690:Galactose