Defining the antigenic structure of human GM-CSF and its implications for receptor interaction and therapeutic treatments.

Three epitopes of human Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor (hGM-CSF) recognised by neutralising and non-neutralising monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) were characterised using competitive binding assays, dissociation constant measurements with glycosylated and non-glycosylated rhGM-CSF, bioactivity inhibition studies, and synthetic peptide arrays. Based on the first approach, two different binding sites were identified: an area referred to as A, recognised by mAbs M1B8 and CC5B5, and an area referred to as B, recognised by mAbs CC1H7 and CC3C12. These binding sites on hGM-CSF were accurately delineated using cytokine-derived overlapping peptide scans and combinatorial hexapeptide libraries prepared by SPOT synthesis on cellulose membranes. We assigned the identical linear epitope A1P2A3R4 to both non-neutralising mAbs CC1H7 and CC3C12. The conformational epitopes A18E21R23R24F119 and R23E21N17W13 recognised by mAb CC5B5, and P118F119EW13E14 recognised by mAb M1B8, were delineated by dual-positional scanning and subsequent iterative searches with two interrogating positions. Competitive binding assays with mAbs M1B8 and CC5B5 revealed the overlapping nature of the cytokine recognition. However, peptide library screening confirmed their binding to different epitopes of which the essential amino acids were found very closely located on the native protein surface. Inhibition of hGM-CSF biological activity by these mAbs demonstrated that these epitopes are located within or very near the receptor binding site of hGM-CSF. Finally, this work supports the importance of residues from helix A and residues from the C-terminal region of the cytokine, composing a common area that is indispensable for the cytokine's biological activity.