Association of glycosylation-inhibiting factor with plasma membranes of T suppressor cell hybridomas

The glycosylation inhibiting factor (GIF) was detected in EGTA extracts of the OVA-specific Ts cell hybridoma, 231F1 cells and 71B4 cells, which constitutively secrete GIF. The lymphokine in both culture supernatants and EGTA extracts failed to bind to OVA-Sepharose. Association of GIF with the plasma membrane was confirmed by surface labeling of the 231F1 cells with 125I. The major species of GIF in the extract was 14.4-kDa peptide as determined by SDS-PAGE, and was identical to that detected in culture supernatants. Pretreatment of the cells with monoclonal anti-GIF switched the cells from the formation of unglycosylated IgE-BF to the formation of glycosylated IgE-BF, indicating that the membrane-associated GIF is involved in the determination of the nature of IgE-binding factor during their biosynthesis. When the hybridoma was stimulated with OVA-pulsed APC, EGTA extracts of the cells contained GIF having affinity for OVA. The binding of the OVA-binding GIF in the EGTA extracts to OVA-Sepharose was inhibited by a synthetic peptide, which corresponds to amino acid residues 307-317 in the OVA molecule and represents the epitope recognized by TCR on the cells. The OVA-binding GIF in the extracts bound to the monoclonal anti-TCR-alpha chain, H-28-710 and the mAb 14-12, which is specific for the Ag-binding chain of effector type suppressor factor, and suppressed the in vivo antibody response of BDF1 mice to DNP-OVA in a carrier-specific manner. Evidence was obtained that indicated that the Ag-binding chain was associated with nonspecific GIF chain on the cell surface of the Ag-stimulated cells.     

汉滩病毒S基因的分段表达及其线性和构象型抗原表位分析

构建汉滩病毒76—118N蛋白及其分别从N-端和C-端缺失的共6个突变体,在大肠杆菌BL-21中进行表达,并对其中一些蛋白进行了纯化。通过Western blot、酶联免疫吸附试验(ELISA)进行汉滩病毒N蛋白的抗原表位分析,N蛋白及6个缺失突变体都与组特异性抗体L13F3呈阳性反应,而缺失突变体与型特异性抗体AH30呈阴性反应。构建汉滩病毒76—118N蛋白及其6个缺失突变体的真核表达载体,并在COS-7细胞中进行表达。通过间接免疫荧光试验(IFA)进行汉滩病毒N蛋白的抗原表位分析,病人血清与真核表达的N蛋白及6个缺失突变体呈阳性反应。而仅有N蛋白及缺失N端1～30位氨基酸序列的NPN30与型特异性抗体AH30呈阳性反应。证实组特异性抗体L13F3结合的抗原表位位于N端1～30位氨基酸;而C端抗原表位对于型特异性抗体AH30与N蛋白的识别和结合具有重要意义,缺失N端100位氨基酸序列可能破坏羧基端构象型表位,也可以影响N蛋白与AH30的结合。     

Development of Human Recombinant Antibodies Against ROR1 Tumor Antigen

Background:Receptor tyrosine kinase-like orphan receptor 1 (ROR1) is an oncofetal antigen expressed on many types of cancer cells, but not normal adult cells. ROR1 antigen contributes to cancer development and progression by several signaling pathways. ROR1 expression has been associated with tumor growth, survival, and metastasis. In this study specific human recombinant antibodies were selected against ROR1 antigen for their use in cancer immunotherapy.Methods:Phage display technology was used to produce phage antibody from a human scFv library. Phage concentration was determined to confirm the phage rescue process. Panning procedure was performed to isolate specific scFv clones against ROR1 epitope. Phage ELISA was done to evaluate the reactivity of the selected scFvs.Results:Two specific human scFvs with frequencies of 20% and 25% were selected against ROR1 peptide. The antibodies showed specific reaction to the corresponding epitopes in phage ELISA.DiscussionCancer targeted therapy using human specific antibodies is a new strategy, which is used in cancer therapy. The selected specific scFvs that target ROR1 epitope are human antibodies that originated from a human library and have the potential to be used in clinic in cancer immunotherapy of ROR1 positive tumors without induction of human anti mouse antibody (HAMA) response.Key Words: ROR1, Phage display, scFV library, Cancer     

β淀粉样蛋白人源性抗体的制备

目的:应用噬菌体展示及抗体库技术,制备并鉴定β淀粉样蛋白(Aβ)人源性抗体。方法:应用固相筛选方法,以人工合成的Aβ1-15肽为靶标分子,在大容量全合成人源性噬菌体抗体库中筛选抗Aβ人源性抗体,并进行特异性鉴定。结果:经过3轮筛选,单克隆鉴定获得噬菌体抗体F11,竞争性ELISA表明抗体对Aβ1-42的结合位点位于1～15氨基酸残基内,ELISA结果证实抗体特异性良好。结论:以Aβ1-15肽为靶标分子获得了特异性良好的人源性抗体。     

用噬菌体随机肽库筛选SARS冠状病毒S蛋白单克隆抗体2C5的模拟表位

SARS-CoVS蛋白特异的单克隆抗体2C5具有病毒中和作用。以单克隆抗体2C5为筛选靶分子,筛选噬菌体展示随机7肽库。经三轮淘洗后随机挑选20个噬菌体克隆进行ELISA分析和序列测定。在10个ELISAOD值大于0.2的阳性噬菌体克隆中,有8个噬菌体克隆展示有共同的7肽序列TPEQQFT。展示有该序列的噬菌体克隆能竞争抑制SARS-CoVS蛋白抗原与单抗2C5的结合。结果表明TPEQQFT为单克隆抗体2C5的模拟表位。该结果可对进一步研究S蛋白结构与功能和设计SARS疫苗有一定的参考意义。     

Masking the cryptodeterminant on the 54-kilodalton mouse sperm surface antigen.

Previously, we reported that the epitope of a 54-kDa sperm surface sialoglycoprotein on the flagellum is masked by sialic acid residues. The epitope is referred to as a hidden determinant or cryptodeterminant. This paper reports the manner in which the epitope is masked as evaluated qualitatively and quantitatively by means of SDS-PAGE/immunoblots (Western blot) and ELISA. Immunoblotting with four specific monoclonal antibodies to the 54-kDa sialoglycoprotein--T21 (IgM), MC71 (IgG1), MC81 (IgM), and MC91 (IgM)--demonstrated that not only IgM but also IgG antibody MC71 and the Fab fragment MC71 are masked. Quantitative evaluation with ELISA to compare the antibody titration curves of the masked and unmasked antigens on sialidase-treated and untreated sperm, respectively, indicated that sialidase caused the antibody-binding ability of the epitopes to increase to a different level for each antibody. There were 32-256-, 8-16-, 16-, and 2-4-fold increases in binding to T21, MC71, MC81, and MC91 antibodies, respectively. These results suggest that the antigen-masking through the cryptodeterminant does not depend upon the subtype or the molecular mass of the antibody, but upon the biochemical nature of the epitope region that is closely related to the sialic acid. The mechanism and physiological roles of the antigen-masking are discussed.     

Heterologous epitope-scaffold prime:boosting immuno-focuses B cell responses to the HIV-1 gp41 2F5 neutralization determinant

The HIV-1 envelope glycoproteins (Env) gp120 and gp41 mediate entry and are the targets for neutralizing antibodies. Within gp41, a continuous epitope defined by the broadly neutralizing antibody 2F5, is one of the few conserved sites accessible to antibodies on the functional HIV Env spike. Recently, as an initial attempt at structure-guided design, we transplanted the 2F5 epitope onto several non-HIV acceptor scaffold proteins that we termed epitope scaffolds (ES). As immunogens, these ES proteins elicited antibodies with exquisite binding specificity matching that of the 2F5 antibody. These novel 2F5 epitope scaffolds presented us with the opportunity to test heterologous prime:boost immunization strategies to selectively boost antibody responses against the engrafted gp41 2F5 epitope. Such strategies might be employed to target conserved but poorly immunogenic sites on the HIV-1 Env, and, more generally, other structurally defined pathogen targets. Here, we assessed ES prime:boosting by measuring epitope specific serum antibody titers by ELISA and B cell responses by ELISpot analysis using both free 2F5 peptide and an unrelated ES protein as probes. We found that the heterologous ES prime:boosting immunization regimen elicits cross-reactive humoral responses to the structurally constrained 2F5 epitope target, and that incorporating a promiscuous T cell helper epitope in the immunogens resulted in higher antibody titers against the 2F5 graft, but did not result in virus neutralization. Interestingly, two epitope scaffolds (ES1 and ES2), which did not elicit a detectable 2F5 epitope-specific response on their own, boosted such responses when primed with the ES5. Together, these results indicate that heterologous ES prime:boost immunization regimens effectively focus the humoral immune response on the structurally defined and immunogen-conserved HIV-1 2F5 epitope.     

生长抑制因子(GIF)与G蛋白Rab3a直接相互作用

生长抑制因子(growth inhibitory factor, GIF), 又称金属硫蛋白-3, 为68个氨基酸组成的脑特异性金属硫蛋白, 具有广泛的生理功能; GIF可能与阿尔茨海默氏症(Alzheimer's)病理相关, 在Alzheimer's脑提取物存在下, 还对神经细胞具有特异的生长抑制活性.然而, 对其发挥生长抑制作用的分子机制并不清楚.运用酵母双杂交系统从人脑cDNA文库中筛选与GIF相互作用因子,从4.1×10⁶个人脑cDNA文库转化子中,首次筛选到Ras家族G蛋白Rab3a C端,包含87个氨基酸的片段能与GIF相互作用;用PCR自人胎盘总cDNA中获得包含完整Rab3a编码序列的cDNA;通过酵母双杂交实验表明,全长Rab3a蛋白亦能与GIF相互作用.免疫共沉淀和蛋白质印迹实验进一步验证了GIF与Rab3a在哺乳动物细胞中可以相互作用; 而且, Rab3a是以GTP结合形式(GTP-Rab3a)与GIF发生相互作用.     

Structural characterization of the O-polysaccharide of the lipopolysaccharide produced by Salmonella milwaukee O:43 (group U) which possesses human blood group B activity.

The O-polysaccharide of the lipopolysaccharide produced by Salmonella milwaukee O:43 (group U) was shown by composition analysis, methylation, periodate oxidation, and 1H and 13C nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopic analytical methods to be a polymer of branched pentasaccharide repeating units having the structure: [formula: see text] The blood-group activity of the O-polysaccharide was established by its serological reactivity with a specific monoclonal antibody to human blood group B, using passive hemagglutination and ELISA assays, indicating the common antigenic epitope to be a nonreducing terminal trisaccharide unit composed of L-Fucp and D-Galp (1:2) residues.     

Carrier-specific suppression of antibody responses by antigen-specific glycosylation-inhibiting factors

We previously established an ovalbumin (OA)-specific T cell clone from spleen cells of BDF1 mice, which had been treated by i.v. injections of OA, and constructed antigen-specific T cell hybridomas from the T cell clone. One of the hybridomas constitutively released glycosylation-inhibiting factor (GIF) which lacked affinity for OA, and was called non-specific GIF. Incubation of the same hybridoma cells with OA-pulsed syngeneic macrophages or OA-pulsed B lymphoblastoid cells of BALB/c origin resulted in the formation of GIF molecules that had affinity for OA but not for bovine serum albumin or keyhole limpet hemocyanin. Both the OA-specific GIF and nonspecific GIF bound to monoclonal anti-lipocortin and possessed I-Jb determinants. The OA-specific GIF consisted of two species of molecules, of m.w. 80,000 and 30,000 to 40,000, respectively, whereas the nonspecific GIF from unstimulated cells had an m.w. of 15,000. Intravenous injections of OA-specific GIF or nonspecific GIF into BDF1 mice suppressed both the IgE and IgG1 anti-hapten antibody responses of the animals to dinitrophenyl derivatives of OA (DNP-OA), but OA-specific GIF was much more effective than nonspecific GIF in suppressing the antibody responses. When the same preparations of GIF were injected into DNP-KHL-primed mice, OA-specific GIF and nonspecific GIF were comparable in suppressing the anti-DNP antibody response. In contrast to the 40,000 m.w. species of OA-specific GIF, the 80,000 m.w. OA-specific GIF had carrier-specific suppressive effects. The similarities of antigen-specific GIF to antigen-specific TsF suggest that the phospholipase-inhibiting activity of the molecules may be involved in the immunosuppressive effects of some antigen-specific TsF.     

Molecular cloning of human growth inhibitory factor cDNA and its down-regulation in Alzheimer''s disease.

In previous studies, we discovered a growth inhibitory factor (GIF) that was abundant in normal human brain, but greatly reduced in Alzheimer's disease (AD) brain. Molecular cloning of a full-length cDNA for human GIF revealed that the GIF had striking homology to metallothioneins. Furthermore, it was determined that the GIF gene was on chromosome 16, as are the metallothionein genes. GIF, in contrast to metallothioneins, was found to be expressed exclusively in the nervous system. The GIF protein produced by Escherichia coli harboring the GIF cDNA in a prokaryotic expression vector inhibited the growth of neonatal rat cortical neurons. These results indicate that GIF is a new member of the metallothionein family with distinct tissue-specific expression and functions. Northern blot analysis revealed that expression of the GIF mRNA is drastically decreased in AD brains. The result raises the possibility that down-regulation of the GIF gene in AD brain plays an important role in the pathogenesis of AD.     

Antigen specificity and cross-species reactivity of a monoclonal antibody (mAb 72.11) against porcine pancreatic procolipase.

We have studied the antigen specificity and cross-reactivity of a monoclonal antibody (mAb 72.11) of subclass IgG1, raised against the precursor form of porcine colipase (procolipase), whose epitope lies near the amino terminal region of the polypeptide. mAb 72.11 cross-reacts with native porcine, equine and human procolipase, as shown by immuno-inactivation and ELISA titration studies carried out on pure proteins, pancreatic tissue homogenate or pancreatic juice. The epitope site recognized by mAb 72.11 was further characterized by studying antibody binding to denatured procolipase. Reduced carboxymethylated procolipase reacted with mAb 72.11 in ELISA. Heat inactivated or reduced carboxymethylated porcine procolipase displaced antigen from the complex formed between antibody and native procolipase. The lack of sensitivity of epitope recognized by mAb 72.11 on procolipase to heat denaturation or reduction of the disulfide bridges is indicative that antigen specificity of mAb 72.11 is not dependent on the conformation of the antigenic site. Cross-reactivity of mAb 72.11 with procolipase from the three species demonstrates that substitution of amino acid at positions 1 and 3 causes no loss of antigenicity. Finally, mAb 72.11 was coupled to sepharose to isolate human procolipase from human pancreatic juice and to separate the precursor form from activated colipase non-adsorbed on the column.     

Two-Site Immunoassay for Acetylcholinesterase in Brain, Nerve, and Muscle

Two-site methods were developed for immunoassay of acetylcholinesterase (AChE; EC 3.1.1.7) in crude extracts of rat and human tissues. A radiometric assay for human AChE utilized a specific monoclonal AChE antibody adsorbed to polystyrene microtiter wells at alkaline pH. AChE bound strongly to this antibody after 24 h at 4 degrees C. Bound enzyme was detected with an 125I-labeled antibody against a different AChE epitope. The assay signal was quasi-linearly related to AChE concentration in purified and crude samples, with a detection threshold near 100 pg. Tetrameric and dimeric AChE behaved equivalently in the assay. Two-site methods with a different pair of species-selective antibodies worked equally well for immunoassay of rat AChE. Assays of the rat enzyme showed that immunoreactivity was lost as rapidly as enzyme activity during heating to 54 degrees C. On the other hand, immunoreactivity was preserved despite loss of enzyme activity after exposure to anticholinesterases or trypsin. A biotinylated second antibody detected by alkaline-phosphatase-conjugated avidin was used to develop an AChE enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) with a sensitivity similar to that of the radiometric assay. Either the ELISA or the radiometric immunoassay may be useful whenever proteolysis or other mechanisms are suspected of dissociating enzyme activity and immunoreactivity. In denervated muscle and ligated peripheral nerve, application of the two-site method showed closely parallel variations in immunoreactivity and enzyme activity.     

Evaluations of Alkyl hydroperoxide reductase B cell antigen epitope as a potential epitope vaccine against Campylobacter jejuni

ObjectiveThe present study aimed to screen and find alkyl hydroperoxide reductase (AhpC) B cell dominant epitope of Campylobacter jejuni (C. jejuni).Materials and methodsBio-informatic algorithms were used to predict B cell epitopes of AhpC. The AhpC protein and chemically synthesized antigenic epitopes of C. jejuni were considered as antigens, and the AhpC antibody was used as the primary antibody, ELISA and dot blot were used to analyze and screen the dominant epitope. The specific IgG of mice serum and IL-4 in splenocyte culture supernatant were detected by ELISA. The protective efficacy was evaluated by animal disease index and tissue histopathological staining of the jejunum.ResultsSeven epitopes of AhpC were predicted, one epitope (AhpC_4–16) was found to recognize the antibodies of AhpC and had strong antigenicity by ELISA and dot blot analysis. In epitope AhpC_4–16 immunized mice, specific IgG of serum and IL-4 in splenocyte culture supernatant were significantly higher. The illness index decreased significantly, the protective rate was 66.67%. Histopathology displayed that the jejunum morphology was better than the control group.ConclusionsThese findings suggested that epitope AhpC_4–16 showed effective protective role against C. jejuni and is a candidate epitope of vaccine against this pathogen.     

Anti-c-myc antibody 9E10: epitope key positions and variability characterized using peptide spot synthesis on cellulose.

The 9E10 antibody epitope (EQKLISEEDL) derives from a protein sequence in the human proto-oncogen p62(c-myc) and is widely used as a protein fusion tag. This myc-tag is a powerful tool in protein localization, immunochemistry, ELISA or protein purification. Here, we characterize the myc-tag epitope by substitutional analysis and length variation using peptide spot synthesis on cellulose. The key amino acids of this interaction are the core residues LISE. The shortest peptide with a strong binding signal is KLISEEDL. Dissociation constants of selected peptide variants to the antibody 9E10 were determined. scFv constructs with the shortest possible myc-tags were successfully detected by Western blot and ELISA, giving a signal comparable to that of the original myc-tag.     

Production of auto-anti-idiotypic antibody during the normal immune response. VIII. Effect of auto-anti-idiotypic antibody on contact sensitivity

An eluate prepared by brief incubation of spleen cells from 2,4,6-trinitrophenyl (TNP) lysyl-Ficoll immunized mice with TNP-epsilon-amino-n-caproic acid causes a specific inhibition of the induction of contact sensitivity by 2,4,6-trinitrochlorobenzene skin painting. The active factor in the eluate binds to an anti-mouse immunoglobulin (Ig) immunoadsorbent column but not to a TNP immunoadsorbent column and is therefore Ig but not anti-TNP antibody. The active factor does bind to an immunoadsorbent prepared from anti-TNP antibody, suggesting that the factor has anti-idiotype specificity. Evidence based upon hapten-reversible inhibition of plaque formation and an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) indicates that the eluates contain auto-anti-idiotype antibody specific for anti-TNP antibody. It is suggested that auto-anti-idiotype antibody spontaneously produced during the immune response to a T-independent antigen can specifically downregulate contact sensitization to the same epitope.     

Identification of B cell epitopes of dengue virus 2 NS3 protein by monoclonal antibody

Dengue virus is a major international public health concern, and there is a lack of available effective vaccines. Virus-specific epitopes could help in developing epitope peptide vaccine. Previously, a neutralizing monoclonal antibody (mAb) 4F5 against nonstructural protein 3 (NS3) of dengue virus 2 (DV2) was developed in our lab. In this work, the B cell epitope recognized by mAb 4F5 was identified using the phage-displayed peptide library. The results of the binding assay and competitive inhibition assay indicated that the peptides, residues 460–469 (U460-469 RVGRNPKNEN) of DV2 NS3 protein, were the B cell epitopes recognized by mAb 4F5. Furthermore, the epitope peptides and a control peptide were synthesized and then immunized female BALB/c mice. ELISA analysis showed that immunization with synthesized epitope peptide elicited a high level of antibody in mice, and immunofluorescent staining showed that the antisera from fusion epitope-immunized mice also responded to DV2 NS3 protein, which further characterized the specific response of the present epitope peptide. Therefore, the present work revealed the specificity of the newly identified epitope (U460-469) of DV2 NS3 protein, which may shed light on dengue virus (DV) vaccine design, DV pathogenesis study, and even DV diagnostic reagent development.     

FMDV整联蛋白受体b1亚基的克隆及其配体黏附区多抗的制备

采用RT-PCR技术从牛气管组织扩增出2400 bp的b1基因, 回收纯化连入PGEM-T载体, 测序。用Expasy软件对b1基因的抗原性进行分析, 选取胞外区334~861 bp的配体结合区与6×His融合, 在大肠杆菌中大规模诱导表达, 并经Ni2+亲和柱层析纯化。通过SDS-PAGE鉴定后, 应用纯化蛋白免疫新西兰家兔, 获得效价在1:12 800以上的多抗, Western blotting鉴定表明此抗体可特异性的与表达的融合蛋白作用。     

The role of Thr5 in human neuron growth inhibitory factor

GIF, a member of the metallothionein (MT) family (assigned as MT3), is a neuron growth inhibitory factor that inhibits neuron outgrowth in Alzheimer’s disease. The conserved Thr5 is one of the main differences between GIF and other members in the MT family. However, natural sheep GIF has an unusual Ala5, casting doubt on the role of common Thr5. We constructed a series of human GIF mutants at site 5, and characterized their biochemical properties by UV spectroscopy, circular dichroism spectroscopy, EDTA reaction, 5,5′-dithiobis(2-nitrobenzoic acid) (DTNB) reaction, and pH titration. Their inhibitory activity toward neuron survival and neurite extension was also examined. Interestingly, the T5A mutant exhibited distinct metal thiolate activity in the EDTA and DTNB reactions, and also lost its bioactivity. Meanwhile, the T5S mutant had similar biochemical properties and biological activity as wild-type human GIF, indicating the hydroxyl group on the Thr5 was critical to the bioactivity of human GIF. We suggest the hydroxyl group in human GIF may help stabilize the biologically active conformation. On the other hand, lack of the hydroxyl group in sheep GIF may be partially compensated by its abnormal structure.Bin Cai and Qi Zheng contributed equally to this work.     

Selection of continuous epitope sequences and their incorporation into poly(ethylene glycol)-peptide conjugates for use in serodiagnostic immunoassays: application to Lyme disease

Continuous epitope sequences were selected from immunogenic Bb proteins by epitope mapping. The identified epitope sequences were synthesized by solid phase peptide synthesis and purified by high performance liquid chromatography. Each epitope was conjugated individually to a multifunctional poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) carrier. The result PEG-peptide conjugates were used as antigens in ELISA for diagnosis of Lyme disease. The results showed that the defined epitope peptides were Lyme disease specific and could be used in a format of PEG-peptide conjugate as the antigen to achieve improved sensitivity and specificity.