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Fine specificities of monoclonal antibodies against the Plasmodium falciparum circumsporozoite protein: recognition of both repetitive and non‐repetitive regions
Author(s) -
BURKOT THOMAS R.,
DA ZHOU WEN,
GEYSEN H.MARIO,
WIRTZ ROBERT A.,
SAUL ALLAN
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
parasite immunology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.795
H-Index - 75
eISSN - 1365-3024
pISSN - 0141-9838
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-3024.1991.tb00272.x
Subject(s) - circumsporozoite protein , epitope , monoclonal antibody , plasmodium falciparum , biology , antibody , virology , subclass , epitope mapping , microbiology and biotechnology , immunology , malaria
Summary The fine specificities of 6 monoclonal antibodies (MoAbs) raised against the circumsporozoite (CS) protein of the human malaria parasite. Plasmodium falciparum , were defined by their binding to a series of overlapping octapeptides corresponding to the 7G8 variant of the CS protein. The precise specificities of the MoAbs to the immunodominant NANP repeat region were elucidated by their binding lo all possible 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 amino acid peptides in this region. All 6 MoAbs recognized the NANP repeats. In addition all MoAh bound to nonrcpctitive sites with 4 of the 6 MoAbs recognizing known functional sites outside the repeat region including sites required for T cell recognition and hepatocyte invasion. Antibody pressure may therefore be responsible for generating the epitope variation observed at T cell sites. The multiple specificities for all the MoAbs suggests that the repeat region may act as an internal immunological ‘smokescreen’ by competing more effectively for antibody binding compared to single epitope copy functional sites located outside the repeat region.