Not available / text

Recombinant Protein G (rPG), an engineered form of streptococcal protein G with a theoretical molecular weight of 22.26 kDa was successfully cloned and expressed in E.coli BL 21(DE3) cells. The albumin binding domain was removed during the gene synthesis to avoid unspecific binding. This recombinant form of protein G contains only the IgG binding domains along with the 6X histidine tag at the N terminal. The removal of non-specific domains maximizes the specificity of IgG binding through the Fc region. The recombinant protein G was purified through heat treatment and using immobilized metal affinity chromatography (IMAC). On an SDS-PAGE gel there was only a single band of the purified preparation which migrated at 32 KDa, however when analyzed by mass spectrometry it was ~22.4 kDa, this phenomenon of retarded migration on SDS-PAGE has been known from previous studies. The production of recombinant protein has also been optimized. The effects of expression temperature, inducer type, inducer concentration and media composition have been investigated. The expression was done at 10 liter scale using the best expression conditions, and the protein was purified to homogeneity, dialyzed and lyophilized. The pure protein was immobilized on a POROS AL (Self Pack® POROS® 20 AL, Applied Biosystems, USA). The immobilized protein IgG binding has been monitored using a VersAFlo system. This system allowed real time monitoring of IgG binding characteristics. / <p></p><p> </p>

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Biochemistry / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

Recent clinical studies have highlighted the effectiveness of immunotherapy for Gram-negative bacteraemia in humans. Studies in America, undertaken on patients with Gram-negative bacteraemia, have shown that mortality was reduced by virtually 50% in patients who received specific antiendotoxin antiserum. In India, mortality from pseudomonas septicaemia was significantly reduced by the administration of small quantities of a anti-pseudomonas immunoglobulin. The antibodies in those studies were raised by vaccination of healthy volunteers with heat-killed Gram-negative bacteria or vaccines containing endotoxin. Adverse side effects in volunteers as well as logistic and legal problems make it difficult to produce antiserum on a large scale, in this manner. In Israel, S.L. Gaffin and coworkers found that approximately 7% of plasma units in a blood bank had antiendotoxin antibody concentrations of 40 ).1g/m1 or greater. This high titre human plasma significantly protected cats from lethal endotoxic shock secondary to haemorrhage. The immunoprecipitin technique used by them to measure antiendotoxin antibody concentrations was unsuitable for screening large numbers of blood samples. To overcome this problem we have devised an enzyme-linked imounosorbent assay (ELISA) for determining the level of antiendotoxin immunoglobulin G in human plasma. The assay, which is suitable for large scale use, was found to be specific for antiendotoxin antibodies. It was calibrated using a serum sample of specific antibody concentration as determined by an ilununoprecipitin assay. Serum samples found to be high in antiendotoxin titres (> 40_ug/m1) were tested for their specificity towards endotoxins from 12 bacterial iv strains and species. While each sample was found to have its own characteristic specificities, most were found to react strongly with Sh. flexneri, S. typhimurium and S. enteritidis. The Natal Blood Transfusion Service has found that in Natal, blood units containing high concentrations of specific antibodies occur with a frequency of 3,6% among all White donors and 10,35% among all African donors. They found that African females, in turn, had almost twice the frequency of high titre serum as African males. In this study, Indian female hospital patients did not have a statistically higher frequency of high-titre serum than Indian male patients. Blood units donated to the Natal Blood Transfusion Service are now routinely screened by ELISA for antiendotoxin antibodies and those units with high concentrations (> 40 ug/ml) of antibody were pooled and fractionated to obtain a gamma globulin, Lot LG-l. The binding capacity of the LG-1 antibodies towards 12 endotoxins was examined. Binding was found to be highest with endotoxin from Sh. flexneri, S. abortus equi and S. typhimurium and intermediate with S. enteritidis and E.coli 026:B6. Binding with the other endotoxins tested was relatively low. Differential absorption experiments showed that LG-1 was made up of a mixture of cross-reacting as well as specific antibodies For example, the antibodies binding Sh. flexneri endotoxin were mainly specific. Those binding E. coli 026:B6 endotoxin were specific and cross-reacting in almost equal proportions. Antibodies to the endotoxins from the salmonella strains tested were mainly cross-reacting. The specificities of the LG-1 antibodies towards endotoxins from the various Gram-negative bacteria did not in most cases reflect the incidence of these organisms in blood cultures taken from hospital patients. V The activity of LG-1 antibodies was compared to that of normal human immunoglobulin preparations obtained from the National Blood Fractionation Centre, Pinetown and to an anti-pseudomonas immunoglobulin prepared by Wellcome Laboratories, England. The binding capacity of the antibodies in the standard globulin preparations towards most of the endotoxins tested was less than 15% of that of the LG-1 antibodies. The anti-pseudomonas immunoglobulin was shown to bind poorly to most of the endotoxins tested in comparison with binding by LG-1 antibodies. / Thesis (MMedSc.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1984.

Data from ¹H nuclear magnetic resonance studies on the Fv fragment of protein 315, a Dnp-binding BALB/c mouse lgA(λ₂) myeloma protein, have been used to refine a predicted structure of the combining site of the protein. The Dnp-binding subsite in the modified structure is composed of the side chains of three aromatic amino acids Trp 93_L, Tyr 3⁴_L and 3⁴_H. A fourth aromatic amino acid residue is close to the side chain-NH-CH 2 -group, this is Tyr 33 H - The antibody-hapten binding is a simple encounter process, which causes no extensive conformation change in the Fv fragment. A method for paramagnetic structural studies has been devised using Dnp derivatives with cllgophosphate side chains, which create a specific manganese binding site on the Fv fragment-hapten complex. The distances from the bound metal ion to the imidazole side chains of two of the three hlstldine residues of protein 315 have been determined. ¹H nuclear magnetic resonance has been used to study the histidine residues of the Fv fragment of protein 315. It has been shown that one of the three histidine residues (102_H) is close to the combining site, but that this residue does not participate directly in binding haptens. ³¹ P nuclear magnetic resonance studies have shown the presence of a positively charged amino acid side chain near the entrance of the combining site of the Fv fragment. This residue has been identified as Arg 95_L. The mode of binding of trini trophenyl derivatives to the Fv fragment has been studied by ¹H nuclear magnetic resonance. It is concluded that these haptens, when bound to the Kv fragment, make contacts with the same amino acid side chains as Dnp derivatives.

Typescript. / Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1974. / Bibliography: leaves 131-141. / xiii, 141 leaves ill