Abstract
Monoclonal antibodies reactive with Shigella flexneri O antigens were generated in both mouse and rat systems. Antibody-producing hybridomas were screened in an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay using chemically defined lipopolysaccharides as antigens, and the epitope specificities were determined with a panel of lipopolysaccharides and synthetic O-antigen-specific glycoconjugates as antigens. To verify the specificity seen in the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, the antibodies were used in agglutination against a large number of S. flexneri strains. Monoclonal antibodies with the following specificities were identified: type, antigen IV (reactive with serotype 4a and 4b bacteria); type antigen V (reactive with serotype 5a and 5b bacteria); type antigen VI (reactive with serotype 6 bacteria); group antigen 3,4(reactive with serotype 1a, 2a, 3b, 4a, 5a, and Y bacteria); and group antigen 1 (reactive with an epitope present on all S. flexneri and Shigella dysenteriae type 1 bacteria). Furthermore, a monoclonal antibody defining a new O-antigenic epitope present on some S. flexneri strains of serotypes 4a, X, and Y was characterized (4X). The monoclonal antibodies analyzed in this study define epitopes described by polyclonal antisera (type antigens IV, V, and VI), define a hitherto uncharacterized epitope (group antigen 1), and finally identify new epitopes in what has previously been considered as one epitope (group antigen 3,4 and type antigen IV). These immunochemically characterized monoclonal antibodies may have a powerful potential in studies of the importance of humoral immunity in shigellosis.