Engineered antibodies for monitoring of polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons. Annual progress report, October 1, 1996--September 30, 1997

'The objective of this multidisciplinary project is to use molecular biological techniques to derive a set of antibodies with useful affinities and selectivities for recovery and detection of polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in environmental and biological samples. The long-term goal is to develop immunodetection methods that will be useful in biomarker research and regulatory monitoring of PAHs. APPROACH The aims and approaches remain the same as in the original proposal. My laboratory cloned and characterized two PAL-I-specific recombinant Fab antibodies (rFabs). The authors are deriving new affinities and specificities for PAHs by mutagenesis of these rFabs, and by selection of new rFabs from combinatorial phage display libraries. Dr. Qing Li''s group designed and synthesized PAH haptens that were essential for my laboratory''s work. Dr. Victoria Roberts''s group developed molecular models that suggested the mechanism of PAH binding and predicted mutations to alter it. Dr. Li''s laboratory is using the recombinant antibodies they produce to develop immunoaffinity and immunoassay methods to quantify PAHs in environmental samples.