A Supercluster of Neutralizing Epitopes at the Interface of Ricin's Enzymatic (RTA) and Binding (RTB) Subunits.

ABSTRACT: As part of an effort to engineer ricin antitoxins and immunotherapies, we previously produced and characterized a collection of phage-displayed, heavy chain-only antibodies (V_HHs) from alpacas that had been immunized with ricin antigens. In our initial screens, we identified nine V_HHs directed against ricin toxin's binding subunit (RTB), but only one, JIZ-B7, had toxin-neutralizing activity. Linking JIZ-B7 to different V_HHs against ricin's enzymatic subunit (RTA) resulted in several bispecific antibodies with potent toxin-neutralizing activity in vitro and in vivo. JIZ-B7 may therefore be an integral component of a future V_HH-based neutralizing agent (VNA) for ricin toxin. In this study, we now localize, using competitive ELISA, JIZ-B7's epitope

SUBMITTER: Poon AY 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5744098 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature