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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, July 2001, p. 3201-3207, Vol. 67, No. 7
0099-2240/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/AEM.67.7.3201-3207.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Characterization of Neutralizing Antibodies and Identification of Neutralizing Epitope Mimics on the Clostridium botulinum Neurotoxin Type A

Han-Chung Wu,* Chia-Tsui Yeh, Yue-Ling Huang, Lih-Jeng Tarn, and Chien-Cheng Lung

Institute of Preventive Medicine, National Defense Medical Center, San-Hsia, Taiwan

Received 16 January 2001/Accepted 15 April 2001

Clostridium botulinum neurotoxin type A (BTx-A) is known to inhibit the release of acetylcholine at the neuromuscular junctions and synapses and to cause neuroparalysis and death. In this study, we have identified two monoclonal antibodies, BT57-1 and BT150-3, which protect ICR mice against lethal doses of BTx-A challenge. The neutralizing activities for BT57-1 and BT150-3 were 103 and 104 times the 50% lethal dose, respectively. Using immunoblotting analysis, BT57-1 was recognized as a light chain and BT150-3 was recognized as a heavy chain of BTx-A. Also, applying the phage display method, we investigated the antibodies' neutralizing B-cell epitopes. These immunopositive phage clones displayed consensus motifs, Asp-Pro-Leu for BT57-1 and Cys-X-Asp-Cys for BT150. The synthetic peptide P4M (KGTFDPLQEPRT) corresponded to the phage-displayed peptide selected by BT57-1 and was able to bind the antibodies specifically. This peptide was also shown by competitive inhibition assay to be able to inhibit phage clone binding to BT57-1. Aspartic acid (D5) in P4M was crucial to the binding of P4M to BT57-1, since its binding activity dramatically decreased when it was changed to lysine (K5). Finally, immunizing mice with the selected phage clones elicited a specific humoral response against BTx-A. These results suggest that phage-displayed random-peptide libraries are useful in identifying the neutralizing epitopes of monoclonal antibodies. In the future, the identification of the neutralizing epitopes of BTx-A may provide important information for the identification of the BTx-A receptor and the design of a BTx-A vaccine.


* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Institute of Preventive Medicine, National Defense Medical Center, P.O. Box 90048-700, San-Hsia, Taiwan. Phone: 886-2-2671-1082, ext. 302. Fax: 886-2-2673-6994. E-mail: hancw{at}pchome.com.tw.


Applied and Environmental Microbiology, July 2001, p. 3201-3207, Vol. 67, No. 7
0099-2240/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/AEM.67.7.3201-3207.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.



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