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For antibody-based therapy of cancer,monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) of human origin are superior to mouse,mouse/human chimeric or humanized mAbs,because of their minimum immunogenicity to humans and their efficient collaboration with human effector cells. In the present study,human mAbs were prepared against a pancarcinoma antigen,MK-1 (Ep-CAM),using a genetically-engineered mouse (KM mouse) that contains the human immunoglobulin genes. Spleen cells from KM mice,immunized with recombinant MK-1,were fused with P3-U1 mouse myeloma cells. Of 44 anti-MK-1 clones analyzed,two were of IgG4 and the others of IgM clones. Although the two IgG4 clones were suggested to recognize the same antigenic determinant or two closely located determinants,their VK regions were encoded by different light-chain genes while their VH sequences were identical. The two IgG4 and one of the IgM clones tested revealed antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity and complement-dependent cytotoxicity,respectively,against MK-1-expressing cells in vitro,suggesting that these fully human mAbs produced against MK-1 and their V-region genes,which are applicable for the preparation of engineered antibody fragments that may be useful for antibody-based therapy of cancer. View Publication

It has been proposed that the ancestral fungus was mating competent and homothallic. However,many mating-competent fungi were initially classified as asexual because their mating capacity was hidden behind layers of regulation. For efficient in vitro mating,the essentially obligate diploid ascomycete pathogen Candida albicans has to change its mating type locus from heterozygous MTL a /α to homozygous MTL a / a or MTL α/α and then undergo an environmentally controlled epigenetic switch to the mating-competent opaque form. These requirements greatly reduce the potential for C. albicans mating. Deletion of the Yci1 domain gene OFR1 bypasses the need for C. albicans cells to change the mating type locus from heterozygous to homozygous prior to switching to the opaque form and mating and allows homothallic mating of MTL heterozygous strains. This bypass is carbon source dependent and does not occur when cells are grown on glucose. Transcriptional profiling of ofr1 mutant cells shows that in addition to regulating cell type and mating circuitry,Ofr1 is needed for proper regulation of histone and chitin biosynthesis gene expression. It appears that OFR1 is a key regulator in C. albicans and functions in part to maintain the cryptic mating phenotype of the pathogen. View Publication

BACKGROUND Identification of species-specific trypanosome molecules is important for laboratory- and field-based research into epidemiology and disease diagnosis. Although Trypanosoma congolense is the most important trypanosome pathogen of cattle in Africa,no species-specific molecules found in infective bloodstream forms (BSF) of the parasites have been identified,thus limiting development of diagnostic tests. METHODS Immuno-mass spectrometric methods were used to identify a protein that is recognized by a T. congolense-specific monoclonal antibody (mAb) Tc6/42.6.4. The identified molecule was expressed as a recombinant protein in E. coli and was tested in several immunoassays for its ability to interact with the mAb. The three dimensional structure of the protein was modeled and compared to crystal- and NMR-structures of the homologous proteins from T. cruzi and T. brucei respectively,in order to examine structural differences leading to the different immunoreactivity of the T. congolense molecule. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) were used to measure antibodies produced by trypanosome-infected African cattle in order to assess the potential for use of T. congolense calflagin in a serodiagnostic assay. RESULTS The antigen recognized by the T. congolense-specific mAb Tc6/42.6.4 was identified as a flagellar calcium-binding protein,calflagin. The recombinant molecule showed immunoreactivity with the T. congolense-specific mAb confirming that it is the cognate antigen. Immunofluorescence experiments revealed that Ca2+ modulated the localization of the calflagin molecule in trypanosomes. Structural modelling and comparison with calflagin homologues from other trypanosomatids revealed four non-conserved regions on the surface of the T. congolense molecule that due to differences in surface chemistry and structural topography may form species-specific epitopes. ELISAs using the recombinant calflagin as antigen to detect antibodies in trypanosome-infected cattle showed that the majority of cattle had antibody responses. Area under the Receiver-Operating Characteristic (ROC) curves,associated with host IgG and IgM,were calculated to be 0.623 and 0.709 respectively,indicating a positive correlation between trypanosome infection and the presence of anti-calflagin antibodies. CONCLUSIONS While calflagin is conserved among different species of African trypanosomes,our results show that T. congolense calflagin possesses unique epitopes that differentiate this protein from homologues in other trypanosome species. MAb Tc6/42.6.4 has clear utility as a laboratory tool for identifying T. congolense. T. congolense calflagin has potential as a serodiagnostic antigen and should be explored further for its utility in antigen-detection assays for diagnosis of cattle infections. View Publication

BACKGROUND Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) is a tick-borne infectious disease with a high case fatality rate,and is caused by the SFTS virus (SFTSV). SFTS is endemic to China,South Korea,and Japan. The viral RNA level in sera of patients with SFTS is known to be strongly associated with outcomes. Virological SFTS diagnosis with high sensitivity and specificity are required in disease endemic areas. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS We generated novel monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) against the SFTSV nucleocapsid (N) protein and developed a sandwich antigen (Ag)-capture enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for the detection of N protein of SFTSV using MAb and polyclonal antibody as capture and detection antibodies,respectively. The Ag-capture system was capable of detecting at least 350-1220 TCID50/100 μl/well from the culture supernatants of various SFTSV strains. The efficacy of the Ag-capture ELISA in SFTS diagnosis was evaluated using serum samples collected from patients suspected of having SFTS in Japan. All 24 serum samples (100%) containing high copy numbers of viral RNA (textgreater105 copies/ml) showed a positive reaction in the Ag-capture ELISA,whereas 12 out of 15 serum samples (80%) containing low copy numbers of viral RNA (textless105 copies/ml) showed a negative reaction in the Ag-capture ELISA. Among these Ag-capture ELISA-negative 12 samples,9 (75%) were positive for IgG antibodies against SFTSV. CONCLUSIONS The newly developed Ag-capture ELISA is useful for SFTS diagnosis in acute phase patients with high levels of viremia. View Publication

Summary The cytokine TWEAK and its cognate receptor Fn14 are members of the TNF/TNFR superfamily and are upregulated in tumors. We found that Fn14,when expressed in tumors,causes cachexia and that antibodies against Fn14 dramatically extended lifespan by inhibiting tumor-induced weight loss although having only moderate inhibitory effects on tumor growth. Anti-Fn14 antibodies prevented tumor-induced inflammation and loss of fat and muscle mass. Fn14 signaling in the tumor,rather than host,is responsible for inducing this cachexia because tumors in Fn14- and TWEAK-deficient hosts developed cachexia that was comparable to that of wild-type mice. These results extend the role of Fn14 in wound repair and muscle development to involvement in the etiology of cachexia and indicate that Fn14 antibodies may be a promising approach to treat cachexia,thereby extending lifespan and improving quality of life for cancer patients. View Publication

The mechanisms by which neutralizing antibodies inhibit Marburg virus (MARV) are not known. We isolated a panel of neutralizing antibodies from a human MARV survivor that bind to MARV glycoprotein (GP) and compete for binding to a single major antigenic site. Remarkably,several of the antibodies also bind to Ebola virus (EBOV) GP. Single-particle EM structures of antibody-GP complexes reveal that all of the neutralizing antibodies bind to MARV GP at or near the predicted region of the receptor-binding site. The presence of the glycan cap or mucin-like domain blocks binding of neutralizing antibodies to EBOV GP,but not to MARV GP. The data suggest that MARV-neutralizing antibodies inhibit virus by binding to infectious virions at the exposed MARV receptor-binding site,revealing a mechanism of filovirus inhibition. View Publication

UNLABELLED: Due to continuous changes to its antigenic regions,influenza viruses can evade immune detection and cause a significant amount of morbidity and mortality around the world. Influenza vaccinations can protect against disease but must be annually reformulated to match the current circulating strains. In the development of a broad-spectrum influenza vaccine,the elucidation of conserved epitopes is paramount. To this end,we designed an immunization strategy in mice to boost the humoral response against conserved regions of the hemagglutinin (HA) glycoprotein. Of note,generation and identification of broadly neutralizing antibodies that target group 2 HAs are rare and thus far have yielded only a few monoclonal antibodies (MAbs). Here,we demonstrate that mouse MAb 9H10 has broad and potent in vitro neutralizing activity against H3 and H10 group 2 influenza A subtypes. In the mouse model,MAb 9H10 protects mice against two divergent mouse-adapted H3N2 strains,in both pre- and postexposure administration regimens. In vitro and cell-free assays suggest that MAb 9H10 inhibits viral replication by blocking HA-dependent fusion of the viral and endosomal membranes early in the replication cycle and by disrupting viral particle egress in the late stage of infection. Interestingly,electron microscopy reconstructions of MAb 9H10 bound to the HA reveal that it binds a similar binding footprint to MAbs CR8020 and CR8043.backslashnbackslashnIMPORTANCE: The influenza hemagglutinin is the major antigenic target of the humoral immune response. However,due to continuous antigenic changes that occur on the surface of this glycoprotein,influenza viruses can escape the immune system and cause significant disease to the host. Toward the development of broad-spectrum therapeutics and vaccines against influenza virus,elucidation of conserved regions of influenza viruses is crucial. Thus,defining these types of epitopes through the generation and characterization of broadly neutralizing monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) can greatly assist others in highlighting conserved regions of hemagglutinin. Here,we demonstrate that MAb 9H10 that targets the hemagglutinin stalk has broadly neutralizing activity against group 2 influenza A viruses in vitro and in vivo. View Publication

mAbs constitute an important biological tool for influenza virus haemagglutinin (HA) epitope mapping through the generation of escape mutants,which could provide insights into immune evasion mechanisms and may benefit the future development of vaccines. Several influenza A (H1N1) pandemic 2009 (pdm09) HA escape mutants have been recently described. However,the HA antigenic sites of the previous seasonal A/Brisbane/59/2007 (H1N1) (Bris07) virus remain poorly documented. Here,we produced mAbs against pdm09 and Bris07 HA proteins expressed in human HEK293 cells. Escape mutants were generated using mAbs that exhibited HA inhibition and neutralizing activities. The resulting epitope mapping of the pdm09 HA protein revealed 11 escape mutations including three that were previously described (G172E,N173D and K256E) and eight novel ones (T89R,F128L,G157E,K180E,A212E,R269K,N311T and G478E). Among the six HA mutations that were part of predicted antigenic sites (Ca1,Ca2,Cb,Sa or Sb),three (G172E,N173D and K180E) were within the Sa site. Eight escape mutations (H54N,N55D,N55K,L60H,N203D,A231T,V314I and K464E) were obtained for Bris07 HA,and all but one (N203D,Sb site) were outside the predicted antigenic sites. Our results suggest that the Sa antigenic site is immunodominant in pdm09 HA,whereas the N203D mutation (Sb site),present in three different Bris07 escape mutants,appears as the immunodominant epitope in that strain. The fact that some mutations were not part of predicted antigenic sites reinforces the necessity of further characterizing the HA of additional H1N1 strains. View Publication

Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) have proven to be instrumental in the advancement of research,diagnostic,industrial vaccine,and therapeutic applications. The use of mAbs in laboratory protocols has been growing in an exponential fashion for the last four decades. Described herein are methods for the development of highly specific mAbs through traditional hybridoma fusion. For ultimate success,a series of simultaneously initiated protocols are to be undertaken with careful attention to cell health of both the myeloma fusion partner and immune splenocytes. Coordination and attention to detail will enable a researcher with basic tissue culture skills to generate mAbs from immunized rodents to a variety of antigens (including proteins,carbohydrates,DNA,and haptens) (see Note 1). Furthermore,in vivo and in vitro methods used for antigen sensitization of splenocytes prior to somatic fusion are described herein. View Publication

Protein kinase CK2 (formerly casein kinase II) is a serine/threonine kinase overexpressed in many human tumors,transformed cell lines,and rapidly proliferating tissues. Recent data have shown that many cancers involve inappropriate reactivation of Wnt signaling through ectopic expression of Wnts themselves,as has been seen in a number of human breast cancers,or through mutation of intermediates in the Wnt pathway,such as adenomatous polyposis coli or beta-catenin,as described in colon and other cancers. Wnts are secreted factors that are important in embryonic development,but overexpression of certain Wnts,such as Wnt-1,leads to proliferation and transformation of cells. We report that upon stable transfection of Wnt-1 into the mouse mammary epithelial cell line C57MG,morphological changes and increased proliferation are accompanied by increased levels of CK2,as well as of beta-catenin. CK2 and beta-catenin co-precipitate with the Dvl proteins,which are Wnt signaling intermediates. A major phosphoprotein of the size of beta-catenin appears in in vitro kinase reactions performed on the Dvl immunoprecipitates. In vitro translated beta-catenin,Dvl-2,and Dvl-3 are phosphorylated by CK2. The selective CK2 inhibitor apigenin blocks proliferation of Wnt-1-transfected cells,abrogates phosphorylation of beta-catenin,and reduces beta-catenin and Dvl protein levels. These results demonstrate that endogenous CK2 is a positive regulator of Wnt signaling and growth of mammary epithelial cells. View Publication