Monoclonal antibody against non-dominant epitopes of HBV e Ag was raised by antigen-antibody co-immunization

J Biotechnol. 2007 May 10;129(4):620-7. doi: 10.1016/j.jbiotec.2007.02.027. Epub 2007 Mar 6.

Abstract

Detection of hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) in the sera of individuals infected with hepatitis B virus (HBV) can indicate both a high infectivity of the disease and a poor prognosis of disease treatment. Most of monoclonal antibodies raised against HBV e proteins interact with immuno-dominant epitopes, such as HBeAg-beta. In order to raise antibodies against non-dominant epitopes of HBV e protein, in this study, mice were immunized with both recombinant HBeAg (rHBeAg) and an anti-HBeAg antibody (EWB) recognizing a dominant antigenic epitope of HBeAg (HBeAg-beta epitope). With this strategy, we successfully selected two monoclonal antibodies, S-29-3 and S-72-3. Both S-29-3 and S-72-3 bind to recombinant HBeAg with a high affinity. The epitope mapping assay determined that the S-73-2 recognizes the N-terminal of HBeAg (1-118 aa) and the S-29-3 recognizes the C-terminal of HBeAg (91-149 aa). Further experiment showed that these two antibodies could be formed a pair-Abs that is used in detecting native HBeAg from the sera of HBV patients. The conclusion is that the developed method is useful to raise mAb against non-dominant epitopes in given Ag.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Antibodies, Monoclonal
  • Antibody Affinity
  • Antigen-Antibody Complex
  • Epitopes / immunology*
  • Hepatitis B / immunology*
  • Hepatitis B Surface Antigens / immunology*
  • Hepatitis B Vaccines*
  • Hepatitis B e Antigens / genetics
  • Hepatitis B e Antigens / isolation & purification
  • Hepatitis B virus / immunology*
  • Humans
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred BALB C
  • Viral Vaccines

Substances

  • Antibodies, Monoclonal
  • Antigen-Antibody Complex
  • Epitopes
  • Hepatitis B Surface Antigens
  • Hepatitis B Vaccines
  • Hepatitis B e Antigens
  • Viral Vaccines