ABSTRACT
Backgroud: Production of monoclonal antibodies to Leishmania antigens assists the identification and characterization of these organisms
Objective: Production of monoclonal antibodies against epitopes on the gp63
Methods: Two murine monoclonal antibodies to gp63 were produced and characterized. The reactions of both antibodies with soluble leishmanial antigens, purified gp63 and truncated recombi-nant gp63 molecules were studied by an ELISA assay. These two antibodies reacted with the crude soluble antigens prepared from 4 reference strains of Leishmania, 10 isolates from the patients, purified gp63 and recombinant gp63 molecules. However, no reaction with several non-leishmanial antigens was observed. Reaction of both antibodies with the intact recombinant gp63 and truncated molecules were compared
Results: The results indicated that the two antibodies specifically recognize two different epitopes on the gp63 molecule
Conclusion: Possible applications of such antibodies in searching for immunogenic epitopes are discussed