Monoclonal antibody against a genus-specific antigen of Chlamydia species: location of the epitope on chlamydial lipopolysaccharide.

Monoclonal antibodies were prepared by the fusion of murine myeloma NS1 cells with spleen cells of BALB/c mice immunized with Formalin-killed elementary bodies of the Chlamydia trachomatis L2 serovar. The specificity of these monoclonal antibodies was determined with a solid-phase immunoassay in which HeLa 229 cells infected with C. trachomatis serovars D, G, H, I, L2 and the Chlamydia psittaci meningopneumonitis strain Cal-10 were used. An immunoglobulin G3 monoclonal antibody (L2I-6) was identified that reacted with both C. trachomatis- and C. psittaci-infected HeLa cells. The immunoreactivity of the genus-specific epitope was heat resistant (100 degrees C, 10 min) but was destroyed by sodium metaperiodate treatment. Further characterization of the chlamydial specificity of monoclonal antibody L2I-6 by microimmunofluorescence showed that it was reactive with all 15 C. trachomatis serovars and seven C. psittaci strains isolated from five different animal species. We undertook studies to identify the biochemical nature of the chlamydial component on which the genus-specific epitope was located. The immunoreactive component was isolated by hot phenol-water extraction of dithiothreitol-reduced chlamydial elementary bodies. The component was positive in the Limulus amoebocyte lysate test (results of Limulus amoebocyte lysate assay were identical with those of Salmonella typhimurium LT2 SAI 377 Re lipopolysaccharide [LPS]), contained 8.8% 2-keto-3-deoxyoctulosonic acid, was resistant to proteinase K, and possessed electrophoretic mobility and silver-staining characteristics in sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis consistent with a rough LPS or glycolipid. On the basis of these findings, we conclude that the genus-specific epitope recognized by monoclonal L2I-6 is located on chlamydial LPS. We further characterized the antigenic properties of the chlamydial LPS epitope by examining the immunoreactivity of monoclonal antibody L2I-6 by immunoblotting analyses against isolated LPSs extracted from Neisseria gonorrhoeae, S. typhimurium, and Escherichia coli. Monoclonal antibody L2I-6 did not bind LPS of these organisms, demonstrating that the chlamydial genus-specific LPS epitope is apparently not shared by these gram-negative bacteria. We were able, however, to show that the chlamydial LPS does share antigenic determinants with LPS of gram-negative organisms. Polyclonal rabbit antisera raised against S. typhimurium Re LPS or lipid A showed intense immunological cross-reactivity with chlamydial LPS by immunoblotting.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)