Monoclonal antibodies to serotype 2 and serotype 15 outer membrane proteins of Neisseria meningitidis and their use in serotyping.

A series of murine monoclonal antibodies to serotype 2 and serotype 15 strains of Neisseria meningitidis were produced which were specific for outer membrane proteins of classes 1, 2, 3, and 5. A panel of eight monoclonal antibodies that exhibited a high degree of serotype specificity when reacted with prototype strains of known serotype were selected for study. Each of the corresponding epitopes was localized on a specific outer membrane protein by means of immunoprecipitation, electroblotting, or both. The serotype 2a-, 2b-, and 2c-specific antibodies bound to the class 2 protein, the serotype 15-specific antibody bound to the class 3 protein, two antibodies (3-1-P1.2 and 3-1-P1.16) bound to class 1 proteins, and two antibodies (1-1-P5.1 and 3-1-P5.2) bound to class 5 proteins. Six of these monoclonal antibodies were used in a spot-blot procedure to survey 122 case isolates (groups B, C, Y, and W135) and 363 carrier isolates (all serogroups) for the presence of the 2a, 2b, 2c, 15, P1.2, and P1.16 epitopes. A total of 66% of the case isolates and 30% of the carrier isolates reacted with one or more of the monoclonal antibodies. The use of monoclonal antibodies for serotyping of meningococci appears to be feasible and easy and appears to have significant advantages over the use of polyclonal typing sera.