Anti-carbohydrate antibodies analysis

All the anti-carbohydrate antibodies purified by affinity chromatography are isomers of a different number of isoforms. The forms can be separated by electrofocusing and all have been found to have combining activity for the immunodeterminant of the same antigen by the method of coupled analysis of electrofocusing and agar diffusion [88], The isoforms of antimonosaccharide antibodies are shown in Fig. (48). 

MacKenzie C. R., Hirama T., Lee K. K., Altmaim E. and Young N. M. (1996) Analysis by surface plasmon resonance of the influence of valence on the ligand binding affinity and kinetics of an anti-carbohydrate antibody, J. Biol. Chem. 271 1527-1533. 

As is documented in Table 2, the induction of anti-carbohydrate immune responses has been successfully demonstrated for many peptides. However, certain challenges remain. Often, the induced antibody titer (concentration) directed against the carbohydrate is rather weak, especially in comparison to the anti-peptide response the majority of antibodies recognize the peptide presumably in a nonmimetic conformation. Several recent studies have investigated these immime responses in more detail, with an extensive analysis of antibody isotypes and adjuvant effects [70,75], the effect of different protein carriers [194], the use of DNA vaccines [48,195], and the demonstration of protection by passive immunization [72,75,194]. In several cases, the anti-carbohydrate immune response has also been shown to be protective against infection in mice [30,72,75,78], and these cases are probably the most promising for the development of vaccines. 

Manimala J, Li Z, Jain A, VedBrat S, Gildersleeve JC. Carbohydrate array analysis of anti-Tn antibodies and lectins reveals nnexpected specificities implications for diagnostic and vaccine development. ChemBioChem 2005 6 2229-2241. 

The flow cytometry analysis proved that certain a-gal polymers were effective in inhibiting anti-Gal antibodies in human serum binding to pig kidney cells. Thus, such carbohydrate polymers can serve both as tools for evaluation of a-gal-anti-Gal interactions and as immimosuppressors in cell xenotransplantations. 

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