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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, July 2001, p. 3201-3207, Vol. 67, No. 7
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.
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
*
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.
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