Characterization of five Shigella flexneri variant Y-specific monoclonal antibodies using defined saccharides and glycoconjugate antigens.

The structural domains of the Shigella flexneri variant Y O-antigen epitopes 3,4 have defied definition, despite knowledge of the structure of the linear polysaccharide chain of the LPS molecule. The dual epitope designation of group antigen 3,4 is based on absorption data using polyvalent rabbit antisera. Five monoclonal antibodies specific for the Y antigen, generated after immunization of BALB/c mice or LOU/C rats, were selected on the basis of ELISA by using well-characterized S. flexneri Y LPS and chemically defined glycoconjugates. Chemically defined LPS from all S. flexneri serogroups, synthetic oligosaccharides, and saccharides obtained by phage Sf6-mediated hydrolysis of the O-polysaccharide were used either as free haptens or glycoconjugates in Farr assays and ELISA titrations. Two different patterns of antibody specificities were seen: two monoclonal antibodies had combining sites recognizing the terminal nonreducing end of the O-polysaccharide complementary to the tetrasaccharide repeating unit; and three antibodies bound to intrachain determinants and had larger combining sites, possibly accommodating at least an octasaccharide. The precise specificity of these two general types of antibodies indicate that variant Y polysaccharide generates more than two O-factors.