Characterization of B-cell epitopes on IpaB, an invasion-associated antigen of Shigella flexneri: identification of an immunodominant domain recognized during natural infection.

The invasion plasmid antigen B (IpaB), a 62-kDa plasmid-encoded protein associated with the ability of shigellae to invade epithelial cells, is the bacterial antigen most strongly and consistently recognized by the host during infection. The strong systemic and mucosal immune responses observed against this invasin prompted us to map its B-cell epitopes. For this purpose, IpaB was first overexpressed in Shigella flexneri and used to raise rabbit polyclonal antiserum and murine monoclonal antibodies, which were subsequently used to screen a lambda gt11 ipaB library. Inserts of recombinant DNA clones that were specifically recognized by the antisera and antibodies were sequenced, and three distinct determinants were identified. Further characterization of these determinants showed that they were recognized by sera from patients convalescent from shigellosis, suggesting that they are relevant to the humoral response during natural infection. Moreover, the IpaB region comprising the three determinants was systematically recognized by all sera from infected patients that we tested, whereas other regions of the protein were not. These data suggest that this region, located between amino acid residues 147 and 258, is the major immunogenic domain of the invasin in the course of natural infection.