Use of synthetic antigens to determine the epitope specificities of monoclonal antibodies against the 3-deoxy-D-manno-octulosonate region of bacterial lipopolysaccharide.

Mouse monoclonal antibodies were raised against heat-killed bacteria of the Re mutant R595 of Salmonella minnesota and characterized by the passive hemolysis and passive hemolysis inhibition tests and by double immunodiffusion experiments using lipopolysaccharide (LPS) from different rough mutants of S. minnesota and synthetic antigens. The latter were copolymerization products of acrylamide with the alpha- and beta-allylglycosides of 3-deoxy-D-manno-octulosonic acid (KDO) and the alpha-2,4-linked KDO disaccharide [poly-alpha-KDO, poly-beta-KDO, and poly-(alpha-KDO)2, respectively], and sodium (3-deoxy-D-manno-octulopyranosyl)onate-(2----6)-(2-deoxy-2-[ (R)-3- hydroxytetradecanoylamino]- beta-D-glucopyranosyl)-(1----6)-(2-deoxy-2-[(R)-3-hydroxytetradecanoy lam ino]-D-glucose) [alpha-KDO-(GlcNhm)2], representing a part structure of Re LPS. One antibody (clone 20, immunoglobulin M) was found to recognize a terminal alpha-linked KDO residue, since it reacted in the passive hemolysis assay with alpha-KDO-(GlcNhm)2 and all LPS tested, it was inhibited by all synthetic antigens containing alpha-linked KDO residues, and it gave a reaction of identity with poly-alpha-KDO and poly-(alpha-KDO)2 in double immunodiffusion experiments. A second antibody (clone 25, immunoglobulin G3) was identified as specific for an alpha-2,4-linked KDO disaccharide, since it reacted in immunodiffusion exclusively with synthetic poly-(alpha-KDO)2 and not with the monosaccharide derivatives in either anomeric configuration, and it was inhibited only with poly-(alpha-KDO)2 and with LPS from S. minnesota R595 (Re) and R345 (Rb2). The reaction of this antibody with R345 LPS is attributed to the quantitative substitution with KDO disaccharide present as a side chain, which is not present in stoichiometric amounts in the other LPS.