Identification of an Antigenic Domain on Mycobacterium leprae Protein Antigen 85B, Which Is Specifically Recognized by Antibodies from Patients with Leprosy

• Published in: The Journal of infectious diseases Vol. 169; no. 1; pp. 162 - 169
• Main Authors: Filley, E., Thole, J. E. R., Rook, G. A. W., Nagai, S., Waters, M., Drijtbout, J. W., Wit, T. F. Rinke de, Vries, R. R. P. De, Zeid, C. Abou
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chicago, IL The University of Chicago Press 01-01-1994; University of Chicago Press
• Subjects: Amino Acid Sequence; Antibodies; Antibodies, Bacterial - blood; Antibodies, Bacterial - immunology; Antibody Specificity; Antigen-Antibody Reactions; Antigens; Antigens, Bacterial - chemistry; Antigens, Bacterial - immunology; Antigens, Bacterial - isolation & purification; B lymphocytes; B-Lymphocytes - immunology; Bacterial diseases; Binding Sites, Antibody; Biological and medical sciences; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; Epitopes; Epitopes - immunology; Ethiopia; Human bacterial diseases; Humans; Infectious diseases; Leprosy; Leprosy, Borderline - immunology; Leprosy, Lepromatous - immunology; Leprosy, Tuberculoid - immunology; Longitudinal Studies; Major Articles; Medical sciences; Molecular Sequence Data; Mycobacterium leprae; Mycobacterium leprae - genetics; Mycobacterium leprae - immunology; Mycobacterium tuberculosis; Peptide Fragments - immunology; Peptide Fragments - metabolism; Peptide Mapping; Proteins; Reactivity; Tropical bacterial diseases; Tropical medicine; Tuberculosis; Ethiopia; Africa; Human; Cartography; Mycobacterium leprae; Antigenic determinant; Antibody; Exploration; Identification; B-Lymphocyte; Binding site; Mycobacterial infection; Lepromatous leprosy; Oligomer; Infection; Biological fixation; Specificity; Mycobacteriales; Bacteriosis; Mycobacteriaceae; Bacteria; Serum; Actinomycetes; ELISA assay
• ISSN: 0022-1899; 1537-6613
• DOI: 10.1093/infdis/169.1.162

Sixty-three overlapping 15-oligomer peptides covering the 30-kDa protein antigen 85B of Mycobacterium leprae were tested by ELISA to identify epitopes recognized by human antibodies. Serum samples from patients with lepromatous leprosy (LL) reacted mainly with peptides comprising amino acid regions (AA) 206–230, 251–280, and 291–325. Sera of patients with active tuberculosis who responded to the native 30-kDa antigen did not recognize these peptides. The antibody-binding specificity to the defined B cell regions was evaluated in a blind study with 71 serum samples from patients and household contacts living in Ethiopia where leprosy is endemic. The peptide of AA 256–280 was recognized by 88% of LL patients, 15% of patients with tuberculoid leprosy, and none of the contacts. These findings suggest that there are major linear B cell epitopes on the M. leprae 30-kDa protein that are recognized by lepromin-negative LL patients, whereas lepromin-positive patients respond preferentially to conformational epitopes.