Abstract
Twenty-one murine monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) were induced by nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae (NTHi) 9274. Nineteen MAbs were specific for the lipooligosaccharide (LOS) as determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and Western blot analysis. When the MAbs were assayed with five LOS prototype strains by ELISA, all bound to strain 3198 LOS (type III), while six of the MAbs were also reactive with LOSs from strain 1479 (type I), 5657 (type IV), or 7502 (type V). Ten MAbs had complement-mediated bactericidal activity, and three MAbs were opsonophagocytic against the homologous strain. Five LOS MAbs with different specificities were used to analyze 155 NTHi clinical isolates from the United States and from Japan. These isolates were classified into nine groups by ELISA. Only four isolates (2.6%) were not recognized by any of the five MAbs. Most of the isolates (91.6%) were in four groups which bound three of the five MAbs. One of three MAbs, 6347C11, had strong activity against the homologous strain and was also bactericidal to 45 clinical isolates (29%) which belonged to the four common patterns (25 belonged to pattern 1). These data indicate that these MAbs can be used for LOS typing in which almost all NTHi strains can be typed according to the LOS antigenicity. Among NTHi, at least one conserved LOS epitope which is a target of bactericidal antibodies exists. We conclude that strain 9274 LOS, which is the target for bactericidal antibodies, is a candidate for LOS-based NTHi vaccines.