Role of the N-terminal amino acid of Bacillus anthracis lethal factor in lethal toxin cytotoxicity and its effect on the lethal toxin neutralization assay.
The cytotoxic activity of lethal factor (LF), a critical reagent used in the cell-based lethal toxin neutralization assay to assess anthrax vaccines, was shown to depend on the identity of its N-terminal amino acid, which plays a role in the targeting of LF to the proteasome for degradation. These results demonstrate that care must be taken to ensure that LF preparations used in standardized cell-based assays are not altered at their N-terminal ends.
Verma
Anita
A
Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, Food and Drug Administration, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
Wagner
Leslie
L
Stibitz
Scott
S
Nguyen
Nga
N
Guerengomba
Flor
F
Burns
Drusilla L
DL
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D019943:Amino Acid Substitution; D000818:Animals; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics / Q000633:toxicity*; D001427:Bacterial Toxins / Q000235:genetics / Q000633:toxicity*; D002460:Cell Line; D008264:Macrophages / Q000187:drug effects*; D051379:Mice; D009500:Neutralization Tests
D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D001427:Bacterial Toxins; C030325:anthrax toxin