Monoclonal antibodies against all known variants of EspA: development of a simple diagnostic test for enteropathogenic Escherichia coli based on a key virulence factor.

ABSTRACT: Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) are a major cause of infant diarrhoea in developing countries and a significant public health issue in industrialized countries. Currently there are no simple tests available for the diagnosis of EPEC. Serology of O-antigens is widely used routinely in many laboratories throughout the world, even though it has been known for many years to be an unreliable indicator of EPEC virulence. We have developed a simple, low-cost immunodiagnostic test based on the EspA filament, an essential virulence factor of EPEC and the related enterohaemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC). Using recombinant proteins of the five major variants of EspA as immunogens, we raised a panel of three monoclonal antibodies in mice that detects all variants of the native target in bacterial cu

SUBMITTER: Praekelt U 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4250835 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature