Surface antigen analysis of group B Neisseria meningitidis outer membrane by monoclonal antibodies: Identification of bactericidal antibodies to class 5 protein

Abstract

Twenty-four monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against group B Neisseria meningitidis surface antigens were analyzed by immunoenzymatic assays and by a bactericidal test. Two mAbs were specific to polysaccharide B and one to lipopolysaccharide. The others were specific to polysaccharide B and one to lipopolysaccharide. The others were directed against outer membrane proteins ranging in molecular mass from 25 to 200 kDa. The outer membrane protein epitopes recognized by the mAbs were not conformational and were located on the outer surface of the microorganism. Linear epitopes on the class 5 protein, exposed on the surface of the membrane, were able to induce bactericidal antibodies to the homologous strain. The susceptibility of Neisseria meningitidis to these antibodies was unchanged when this organism was cultivated under conditions of iron depletion. These results demonstrate that peptides derived from class 5 proteins are potentially important in synthetic peptide or in recombinant protein vaccines containing linear bactericidal epitopes.

Functional Activities and Epitope Specificity of Human and Murine Antibodies against the Class 4 Outer Membrane Protein (Rmp) of Neisseria meningitidis

“…Isotyping of MAbs in hybridoma culture medium was performed in ELISA with OMVs as coating antigen, with a kit from Zymed Laboratories, Inc., San Francisco, Calif. In addition, two MAbs against class 4 OMP, generated at Fundaçao Oswaldo Cruz, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (AE3) (9), and at Max-Planck-Institut für Molekulare Genetik, Berlin, Germany (V414) (2), respectively, were tested. Also, six MAbs against PIII (SM50 to SM55), generated at the University of Southampton Medical School, Southampton, United Kingdom, were used (52).…”

Expression of class 5 antigens by meningococcal strains obtained from patients in Brazil and evaluation of two new monoclonal antibodies

“…Considering the high incidence of meningococcal disease due to certain group B strains in Brazil, the studies of surface structures of class 5 proteins are important. Groups in different Brazilian laboratories have emphasized the importance of class 5 proteins [34,41,42] in Brazil. However, no analysis of the prevalence of class 5 types expressed in serogroup B strains in Brazil has been performed, despite the importance of such an analysis for the identification of prevalent class 5 proteins in our strains.…”

N-terminal amino acid sequences of the major outer membrane proteins from a Neisseria meningitidis group B strain isolated in Brazil

“…Antibodies directed against this protein are non-bactericidal and have the additional ability to block the lytic effect of antibodies directed against other outer surface antigens (Munkley et al 1991). Finally, C5 (class 5 OMP, opc or opacity-associated protein), in contrast to the other major OMP, is quite variable both in its qualitative and quantitative expression (Achtman et al 1991, Aho et al 1991, Poolman 1995 but may induce bactericidal antibodies (Danelli et al 1995). This group of proteins also elicits strong but strain-specific antibody responses and confers important interstrain antigenic differences which may be detected by MAbs (Zollinger et al 1984).…”