技术资料

Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) coronavirus (CoV) envelope (E) protein is a transmembrane protein. Several subcellular locations and topological conformations of E protein have been proposed. To identify the correct ones,polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies specific for the amino or the carboxy terminus of E protein,respectively,were generated. E protein was mainly found in the endoplasmic reticulum-Golgi intermediate compartment (ERGIC) of cells transfected with a plasmid encoding E protein or infected with SARS-CoV. No evidence of E protein presence in the plasma membrane was found by using immunofluorescence,immunoelectron microscopy and cell surface protein labeling. In addition,measurement of plasma membrane voltage gated ion channel activity by whole-cell patch clamp suggested that E protein was not present in the plasma membrane. A topological conformation in which SARS-CoV E protein amino terminus is oriented towards the lumen of intracellular membranes and carboxy terminus faces cell cytoplasm is proposed. View Publication

MUC16 is a well-validated cell surface marker for serous adenocarcinomas of the ovary and other gynecologic malignancies that is distinguished by highly repetitive sequences (mucin repeats") in the extracellular domain (ECD). We produced and compared two monoclonal antibodies: one (11D10) recognizing a unique� View Publication

The screening for antigen-specific hybridoma cells with adequate production rates is still a time-,labour- and money-consuming procedure. A reduction in cell culture testing by specifically selecting those fused cells that produce antibody could therefore make hybridoma technology more attractive,even for small research groups or for newly discovered proteins at an early stage of research. Additional problems,such as the requirement to produce sufficient amounts of the unknown protein at a purity that allows specific immunisation of mice and testing of the resulting hybridoma clones,also need to be overcome. Here we present a new strategy to isolate rapidly and efficiently monoclonal antibodies against new proteins,for which only sequence information at the DNA level is known. The strategy consists of fusion of the protein to a hexa-His-tag to allow easy purification,production in yeast and insect cells to reduce background immunisation with host cell proteins and the selection of IgG-producing hybridoma cells by flow-cytometric cell sorting using the affinity matrix secretion assay technique. ?? 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. View Publication

Enterocytozoon bieneusi spores derived from rhesus macaque feces were purified by serial salt-Percoll-sucrose-iodixanol centrifugation,resulting in two bands with different specific densities of 95.6% and 99.5% purity and with a recovery efficiency of 10.8%. An ultrastructural examination revealed typical E. bieneusi spores. Twenty-six stable hybridomas were derived from BALB/c mice immunized with spores and were cloned twice by limiting dilution or growth on semisolid medium. Four monoclonal antibodies (MAbs),reacting exclusively with spores,were further characterized. These MAbs specifically reacted with spores present in stools of humans and macaques,as visualized by immunofluorescence,and with spore walls,as visualized by immunoelectron microscopy. A blocking enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and Western blotting revealed that the epitope recognized by 8E2 was different from those recognized by 7G2,7H2,and 12G8,which identified the same 40-kDa protein. These MAbs will be valuable tools for diagnostics,for epidemiological investigations,for host-pathogen interaction studies,and for comparative genomics and proteomics. View Publication

Inter-alpha inhibitor protein (IalphaIp) is an endogenous serine protease inhibitor in human plasma. Circulating IalphaIp levels were lower in 51 patients with severe sepsis than in healthy volunteers. Mean levels were 688+/-295 mg/L in patients with severe sepsis who survived (n=32),486+/-193 mg/L in patients with sepsis who died (n=19),and 872+/-234 mg/L in control subjects (n=25). IalphaIp levels were lower in patients with shock versus those without (540+/-246 [n=33] vs. 746+/-290 [n=18] mg/L; P=.0102). IalphaIp levels were inversely correlated with 28-day mortality rates and Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II scores and directly correlated with antithrombin III,protein C,and protein S levels. The administration of IalphaIp (30 mg/kg body weight intravenously) increased the 50% lethal dose in mice by 100-fold after an intravenous challenge of Escherichia coli. Thus,human IalphaIp may be a useful predictive marker and potential therapeutic agent in sepsis. View Publication

To investigate the influence of antibody structure and specificity on antibody efficacy against Streptococcus pneumoniae,human monospecific antibodies (MAbs) to serotype 3 pneumococcal capsular polysaccharide (PPS-3) were generated from transgenic mice reconstituted with human immunoglobulin loci (XenoMouse mice) vaccinated with a PPS-3-tetanus toxoid conjugate and their molecular genetic structures,epitope specificities,and protective efficacies in normal and complement-deficient mice were determined. Nucleic acid sequence analysis of three MAbs (A7,1A2,and 7C5) revealed that they use two different V(H)3 genes (A7 and 1A2 both use V3-15) and three different V(kappa) gene segments. The MAbs were found to have similar affinities for PPS-3 but different epitope specificities and CDR3 regions. Both A7 and 7C5 had a lysine at the V(H)-D junction,whereas 1A2 had a threonine. Challenge experiments with serotype 3 S. pneumoniae in BALB/c mice revealed that both 10- and 1- micro g doses of A7 and 7C5 were protective,while only a 10- micro g dose of 1A2 was protective. Both A7 and 7C5 were also protective in mice lacking either an intact alternative (FB(-/-)) or classical (C4(-/-)) complement pathway,but 1A2 was not protective in either strain. Our data suggest that PPS-3 consists of epitopes that can elicit both highly protective and less protective antibodies and that the superior efficacies of certain antibodies may be a function of their structures and/or specificities. Further investigation of relationships between structure,specificity,and efficacy for defined MAbs to PPS may identify antibody features that might be useful surrogates for antibody (and vaccine) efficacy. View Publication

Pharmacokinetic (PK) and immunohistochemistry (IHC) assays are essential to the evaluation of the safety and efficacy of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies (mAb) during drug development. These methods require reagents with a high degree of specificity because low concentrations of therapeutic antibody need to be detected in samples containing high concentrations of endogenous human immunoglobulins. Current assay reagent generation practices are labor-intensive and time-consuming. Moreover,these practices are molecule-specific and so only support one assay for one program at a time. Here,we describe a strategy to generate a unique assay reagent,10C4,that preferentially recognizes a panel of recombinant human mAbs over endogenous human immunoglobulins. This panel-specific" feature enables the reagent to be used in PK and IHC assays for multiple structurally-related therapeutic mAbs. Characterization revealed that the 10C4 epitope is conformational� View Publication

The extended substrate specificity of granzyme B (GrB) was used to identify substrates among the chaperone superfamily. This approach identified Hsp90 and Bag1-L as novel GrB substrates,and an additional GrB cleavage site was identified in the Hsc70/Hsp70-Interacting Protein,Hip. Hsp90,Bag1L,and Hip were validated as GrB substrates in vitro,and mutational analysis confirmed the additional cleavage site in Hip. Because the role of Hip in apoptosis is unknown,its proteolysis by GrB was used as a basis to test whether it has anti-apoptotic activity. Previous work on Hip was limited to in vitro characterization; therefore,it was important to demonstrate Hip cleavage in a physiological context and to show its relevance to natural killer (NK) cell-mediated death. Hip is cleaved at both GrB cleavage sites during NK-mediated cell death in a caspase-independent manner,and its cleavage is due solely to GrB and not other granule components. Furthermore,Hip is not cleaved upon stimulation of the Fas receptor in the Jurkat T-cell line,suggesting that Hip is a substrate unique to GrB. RNA interference-mediated reduction of Hip within the K562 cell line rendered the cells more susceptible to NK cell-mediated lysis,indicating that proteolysis by GrB of Hip contributes to death induction. The small effect of RNA interference-mediated Hip deficiency on cytotoxicity is in agreement with the inherent redundancy of NK cell-mediated cell death. The identification of additional members of the chaperone superfamily as GrB substrates and the validation of Hip as an anti-apoptotic protein contribute to understanding the interplay between stress response and apoptosis. View Publication

Here,we describe the discovery of a naturally occurring human antibody (Ab),FluA-20,that recognizes a new site of vulnerability on the hemagglutinin (HA) head domain and reacts with most influenza A viruses. Structural characterization of FluA-20 with H1 and H3 head domains revealed a novel epitope in the HA trimer interface,suggesting previously unrecognized dynamic features of the trimeric HA protein. The critical HA residues recognized by FluA-20 remain conserved across most subtypes of influenza A viruses,which explains the Ab's extraordinary breadth. The Ab rapidly disrupted the integrity of HA protein trimers,inhibited cell-to-cell spread of virus in culture,and protected mice against challenge with viruses of H1N1,H3N2,H5N1,or H7N9 subtypes when used as prophylaxis or therapy. The FluA-20 Ab has uncovered an exceedingly conserved protective determinant in the influenza HA head domain trimer interface that is an unexpected new target for anti-influenza therapeutics and vaccines. View Publication

Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is a medically important human viral pathogen that causes Chikungunya fever accompanied with debilitating and persistent joint pain. Host-elicited or passively-transferred monoclonal antibodies (mAb) are essential mediators of CHIKV clearance. Therefore,this study aimed to generate and characterize a panel of mAbs for their neutralization efficacy against CHIKV infection in a cell-based and murine model. To evaluate their antigenicity and neutralization profile,indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA),an immunofluorescence assay (IFA) and a plaque reduction neutralization test were performed on mAbs of IgM isotype. CHIKV escape mutants against mAb 3E7b neutralization were generated,and reverse genetics techniques were then used to create an infectious CHIKV clone with a single mutation. 3E7b was also administered to neonate mice prior or after CHIKV infection. The survival rate,CHIKV burden in tissues and histopathology of the limb muscles were evaluated. Both IgM 3E7b and 8A2c bind strongly to native CHIKV surface and potently neutralize CHIKV replication. Further analyses of 3E7b binding and neutralization of CHIKV single-mutant clones revealed that N218 of CHIKV E2 protein is a potent neutralizing epitope. In a pre-binding neutralization assay,3E7b blocks CHIKV attachment to permissive cells,possibly by binding to the surface-accessible E2-N218 residue. Prophylactic administration of 3E7b to neonate mice markedly reduced viremia and protected against CHIKV pathogenesis in various mice tissues. Given therapeutically at 4 h post-infection,3E7b conferred 100% survival rate and similarly reduced CHIKV load in most mice tissues except the limb muscles. Collectively,these findings highlight the usefulness of 3E7b for future prophylactic or epitope-based vaccine design. View Publication

The specificity and affinity of antibody-antigen interactions is a fundamental way to achieve reliable biosensing responses. Different proteins involved with dry eye dysfunction: ANXA1,ANXA11,CST4,PRDX5,PLAA and S100A6; were validated as biomarkers. In this work several antibodies were tested for ANXA1,ANXA11 and PRDX5 to select the best candidates for each biomarker. The results were obtained by using Biophotonic Sensing Cells (BICELLs) as an efficient methodology for label-free biosensing and compared with the Enzyme-Linked Immuno Sorbent Assay (ELISA) technique. View Publication

During drug development,measurement of suitable pharmacodynamic biomarkers is key to establishing in vivo drug activity. Binding of monoclonal antibody (mAb) therapeutics to soluble target proteins often results in elevated serum levels of their target antigen,and measuring total (free and bound) concentration of the target antigen can be an important means of demonstrating that the mAb has reached its specific target. However,accurately measuring soluble circulating antigen in preclinical or clinical samples in the presence of a therapeutic mAb presents a bioanalytical challenge. Particularly in the case of low molecular weight and/or multimeric targets,epitopes for capture and detection of the target by reagent antibodies can be obscured by bound therapeutic mAb. Lymphotoxin-alpha (LTα) is a cytokine in the TNF superfamily that has been implicated in the pathophysiology of autoimmune disease,and is a therapeutic target for neutralizing mAb. During preclinical safety studies in cynomolgus macaques,we encountered difficulties in measuring total LTα in serum of dosed animals. When serum LTα trimer was saturated with the anti-LTα mAb,binding of two reagent antibodies,as required for a classic sandwich ELISA,was not feasible,and dissociation methods were also found to be unsuitable. We therefore developed an approach in which excess anti-LTα mAb was added to the in vitro assay system to fully saturate all binding sites,and an anti-idiotypic antibody was used to detect bound therapeutic antibody. Using this method,total LTα could be accurately measured in cynomolgus macaque serum,and was observed to increase with increasing anti-LTα therapeutic mAb dose. Additional in vitro studies demonstrated that the method worked equally well in human serum. This assay strategy will be useful for quantifying total concentrations of other small and/or multimeric target proteins in the presence of a therapeutic antibody. View Publication