Antibody, catalytic activity

While the presentation thus far has emphasized the programmed relationship of hapten design and consequent antibody catalytic activity, there is a growing number of examples where the detailed examination of catalysis reveals mechanistic features that were not evidently design features of the system at the outset. Such discoveries are clearly a strength rather than a weakness of... 

The working conditions of the immunosensor (enzyme and antigen concentrations, dilutions of the antibodies, pH of the buffer solution) were found. The cholinesterase immobilized demonstrated the maximum catalytic activity in phosphate buffer solution with pH 8.0. The analytical chai acteristics of the sensor - the interval of the working concentrations and detection limit - have been obtained. The proposed approach of immunoassay made possible to detect 5T0 mg/ml of the bacterial antigen. 

Wirsching, P, et al., 1995. Reactive immunization. Science 270 1775-1783. Description of reactive immunization, in which a highly reactive compound is used as antigen. Antibodies raised against such an antigen show catalytic activity for tlie chemical reaction that the antigen undergoes. 

Like many other antibodies, the activity of antibody 14D9 is sufficient for preparative application, yet it remains modest when compared to that of enzymes. The protein is relatively difficult to produce, although a recombinant format as a fusion vdth the NusA protein was found to provide the antibody in soluble form with good activity [20]. It should be mentioned that aldolase catalytic antibodies operating by an enamine mechanism, obtained by the principle of reactive immunization mentioned above [15], represent another example of enantioselective antibodies, which have proven to be preparatively useful in organic synthesis [21]. One such aldolase antibody, antibody 38C2, is commercially available and provides a useful alternative to natural aldolases to prepare a variety of enantiomerically pure aldol products, which are otherwise difficult to prepare, allovdng applications in natural product synthesis [22]. 

An interesting case in the perspective of artificial enzymes for enantioselective synthesis is the recently described peptide dendrimer aldolases [36]. These dendrimers utilize the enamine type I aldolase mechanism, which is found in natural aldolases [37] and antibodies [21].These aldolase dendrimers, for example, L2Dl,have multiple N-terminal proline residues as found in catalytic aldolase peptides [38], and display catalytic activity in aqueous medium under conditions where the small molecule catalysts are inactive (Figure 3.8). As most enzyme models, these dendrimers remain very far from natural enzymes in terms ofboth activity and selectivity, and at present should only be considered in the perspective of fundamental studies. 

The sensitivity of enzyme assays can also be exploited to detect proteins that lack catalytic activity. Enzyme-linked immunoassays (ELlSAs) use antibodies covalently finked to a reporter enzyme such as alkafine phosphatase or horseradish peroxidase, enzymes whose products are readily detected. When serum or other samples to be tested are placed in a plastic microtiter plate, the proteins adhere to the plastic surface and are immobilized. Any remaining absorbing areas of the well are then blocked by adding a nonantigenic protein such as bovine serum albumin. A solution of antibody covalently linked to a reporter enzyme is then added. The antibodies adhere to the immobilized antigen and these are themselves immobilized. Excess free antibody molecules are then removed by washing. The presence and quantity of bound antibody are then determined by adding the substrate for the reporter enzyme. 

The library of natural catalysts has very little to offer for the catalysis of Diels-Alder (and the reverse) reactions (Diels-Alderases)[139]. For this reason one of the intriguing areas of biomimickry, namely the formation and use of antibodies exhibiting catalytic activity, has focused on [4 + 2] reactions to try to furnish proteins possessing useful catalytic properties. Thus in early studies a polyclonal catalytic antibody raised to hapten (57)[140] showed a modest rate enhancement for the reaction depicted in Scheme 48. 

The results obtained with this approach are quite impressive. Large rate accelerations (kcat/kuncat = 3 X 104) were observed with the best of the catalysts. A comparison between the best catalyst and a catalytic antibody system designed for phosphomonoester hydrolysis is reported. The combinatorial derived system gives an observed rate constant that is five times larger than that reported for the antibody system. In a control experiment, it was determined that polymers with just one type of carboxylic acid attached did not have catalytic activity. It... 

The most common of these systems is the enzyme-multiplied immunoassay technique or EMIT, which is particularly suited to the measurement of small molecules (haptens) such as drugs. EMIT is a trade mark of the Syva Corporation of Palo Alto, California. Although it does not involve the separation of bound fraction from free it is nevertheless a competitive assay system. The antigen is labelled with an enzyme in such a way that the enzyme retains its catalytic activity. When the antigen binds to the antibody the enzyme becomes inhibited, probably by an induced conformational change or by steric hindrance of the enzyme active site (Figure 7.15). 

The uPA receptor also appears to play a role in cell locomotion and chemo-taxis, at least for human monocytes in vitro (G8). Using these cells, chemotaxis was inhibited by pretreatment with both anti-uPA receptor antibodies and anti-sense uPA receptor oligonucleotides. Expression of uPA catalytic activity was not required for chemotaxis with this cell type (G8). 

The question P.G. Schultz, from Berkeley, and R.A.Lemer, from Scripps, set forth was "How to associate the prodigious capacity of molecular recognition of antibodies with potential enzymatic (catalytic) activity " [22a] [26]. In 1986, they succeeded developing the first antibodies with catalytic activity [27]. Lemer called them abzymes. In fact, their strategy is quite simple based on Pauling s hypothesis, Lerner s and Schultz s groups looked for antibodies that could stabilise the transition state of a given reaction, such as ester and carbonate hydrolysis. 

Once the hapten has been designed and prepared, it is conjugated with a carrier protein to induce the best immunogenicity as possible to elicit an immune response in the animal (most commonly a mouse) in which it is inoculated. The antibodies produced by the defense mechanism of the adaptive immune system that specifically recognizes the hapten are then isolated, overproduced, and purified for testing their catalytic activity toward the targeted chemical reaction. 

The addition of cofactors to antibodies is a sure means to confer a catalytic activity to them insofar as this cofactor is responsible for the activity. Indeed for many enzymes, the interaction with cofactors such as thiamins, flavins, pyridoxal phosphate, and ions or metal complexes is absolutely essential for the catalysis. It is thus a question there of building a new biocatalyst with two partners the cofactor responsible for the catalytic activity, and the antibody which binds not only the cofactor but also the substrate that it positions in a specific way one with respect to the other, and can possibly take part in the catalysis thanks to some of its amino acids. 

While indirect selections work quite well for antibodies they have been less successful in the case of catalytic nucleic acids. There are only three examples which prove that it is possible in principle to obtain a ribo- or deoxyribozyme by selecting an aptamer that binds to a TSA A rotamase ribozyme [7], a ribozyme capable of catalyzing the metallation of a porphyrin derivative [92], and one catalytic DNA of the same function [93]. Another study reported the selection of a population of RNA-aptamers which bind to a TSA for a Diels-Alder reaction but the subsequent screen for catalytic activity was negative for all individual RNAs tested [94]. The attempt to isolate a transesterase ribozyme using the indirect approach also failed [95]. 

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