ABSTRACT
Diarrhetic shellfish poisoning (DSP) is a serious and globally widespread phytoplankton-related seafood illness. Although DSP is rarely life-threatening, it causes incapacitating diarrhea and vomiting with no known medical treatments. In addition, phytoplankton producing DSP toxins have been identified in temperate coastal waters worldwide, and their numbers may be increasing as a result of coastal eutrophication. The toxic effects of the major DSP toxins, okadaic acid and dinophysistoxin-1 (35-methylokadaic acid), appear to originate from their inhibitory activity against a family of structurally related serine/threonine protein phosphatases (PSPases). In particular, the inhibition of essential PSPases (e.g. PP1 and PP2A) has catastrophic consequences in most eukaryonic cells. Exploiting the potent inhibitory property of the DSP toxins, we have developed an enzyme-based assay (PP2A assay) capable of detecting both okadaic acid and dinophysistoxin-1 in nanogram amounts. The assay employs purified PP2A, which has an extremely high affinity for both DSP toxins. This provides the PP2A assay with a level of sensitivity comparable to, or surpassing, that of most monoclonal antibody probes. To evaluate the PP2A assay as a means of detecting contaminated shellfish, a series of spike recovery experiments was conducted. The findings from these studies suggest that the PP2A assay has the potential for development into a rapid and relatively simple method for detecting PSPase inhibitors in crude extracts produced from shellfish.
Subject(s)
Clinical Enzyme Tests/methods , Marine Toxins/chemistry , Phosphoprotein Phosphatases/antagonists & inhibitors , Phosphoprotein Phosphatases/analysis , Pyrans/chemistry , Shellfish Poisoning , Animal Population Groups , Animals , Foodborne Diseases/diagnosis , Foodborne Diseases/enzymology , Marine Toxins/poisoning , Okadaic Acid/chemistry , Pyrans/poisoning , Shellfish/analysisABSTRACT
In a phase 1 trial, patients with metastatic melanoma received the anti-GD2 murine mAb 14G2a. All patients developed human anti-14G2a antibodies including anti-Id antibodies. Peripheral blood MNCs from one such patient were fused with the murine myeloma cell line Ag8. Four human anti-14G2a secreting hybridomas were generated and the mAb product of one of the hybridomas was characterized. The human mAb 4B5 (hu-IgG, lambda) binds to the variable region of murine 14G2a (anti-Id). The 4B5 binds to the antigen-combining site of 14G2a and inhibits its binding to GD2 expressing Mel-21 cells. Rabbits were immunized with the human anti-Id 4B5. Sera from the immunized rabbits demonstrated anti-4B5 antibodies and anti-Mel-21 and anti-GD2 reactivity. Furthermore, rabbit sera competitively inhibited binding of 14G2a to Mel-21 cells. Rabbits immunized with 4B5 developed a DTH response when challenged with 4B5 antibody and Mel-21 cells. These studies demonstrate that the human anti-Id 4B5 mimics the GD2 antigen and is capable of eliciting both a humoral and cellular anti-GD2 immune response. This antibody could be potentially used as a human anti-Id vaccine in patients with malignant melanoma.
