title: 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.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, Food and Drug Administration, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
authors.forename: Anita
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Verma
authors.forename: Leslie
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wagner
authors.forename: Scott
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Stibitz
authors.forename: Nga
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Nguyen
authors.forename: Flor
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Guerengomba
authors.forename: Drusilla L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Burns
mesh_terms: 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
chemical_list: D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D001427:Bacterial Toxins; C030325:anthrax toxin