Proteins as antigens

Rotavirus. Rotavims causes infant diarrhea, a disease which has major socio-economic impact. In developing countries it is the major cause of death in infants worldwide, causing up to 870,000 deaths per year. In the United States, diarrhea is stiU a primary cause of physician visits and hospitalization, although the mortaUty rate is relatively low. Studies have estimated a substantial cost benefit for a vaccination program in the United States (67—69). Two membrane proteins (VP4 and VP7) of the vims have been identified as protective epitopes and most vaccine development programs are based on these two proteins as antigens. Both Hve attenuated vaccines and subunit vaccines are being developed (68). 

Murray AM, Kelly CD, Nussey SS, Johnstone AP. (1998) Production of glutathione-coated microtitre plates for capturing recombinant glutathione S-transferase fusion proteins as antigens in immunoassays. J Immunol Methods 218, 133-9. 

Greenwood J, Willis AE, Perham RN, Multiple display foreign peptides on a filamentous bacteriophage Peptides from Plasmodium falciparum circumsporozoite protein as antigens, J. Mol. Biol., 220 821-827, 1991. 

Chiles, T., et al. (1987). Production of Monoclonal Antibodies to a Low-abundance Hepatic Membrane Protein Using Nitrocellulose Immobilized Protein as Antigen, Anal. Biochem. 163 136-142. 

It should be emphasized that poly(ICLC) is not a universal adjuvant. When used with serum albumin or pheumococcal polysaccharide III, an inhibition of production of circulating antibody was seen (H. Levy and P. Baker, unpublished observation). With rabies virus or interferon protein as antigens, no effect was noted. Alterations of dosage of poly(ICLC), or of the temporal relationship between antigen and inducer administration, could conceivably give different results. 

Affinity chromatography (12) has become an important tool in the isolation of purified fractions of such substances as enzymes. Advantage is taken of specific interactions such as antigen-antibody interactions. One substance of the pair (e.g. antigen) is bonded to a support. When a mixture is passed through the column, the specific interaction retains the corresponding antibody relative to other substances. A change of mobile phase conditions then elutes the pure antibody. This method has a real potential for analysis of specific proteins in body fluids. 

The fluidity of lipid bilayers permits dynamic interactions among membrane proteins. For example, the interactions of a neurotransmitter or hormone with its receptor can dissociate a transducer protein, which in turn will diffuse to interact with other effector proteins (Ch. 19). A given effector protein, such as adenylyl cyclase, may respond differently to different receptors because of mediation by different transducers. These dynamic interactions require rapid protein diffusion within the plane of the membrane bilayer. Receptor occupation can initiate extensive redistribution of membrane proteins, as exemplified by the clustering of membrane antigens consequent to binding bivalent antibodies [8]. In contrast to these examples of lateral mobility, the surface distribution of integral membrane proteins can be fixed by interactions with other proteins. Membranes may also be partitioned into local spatial domains consisting of networks... 

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