Enzyme immunoassay with captured hapten. A sensitive gastrin assay with biotinyl-gastrin derivatives.

Two N-terminal biotinyl-gastrin derivatives were synthesized to investigate the effect of the length and chemical properties of the biotin-spacer on both the capture of the hapten by streptavidin or avidin adsorbed on polystyrene, and the antigenicity of the captured peptide. The observed full retainment of antibody binding capacity of the biotinyl-gastrins upon their immobilization, allowed to develop a sandwich-type ELISA with a sensitivity of one order of magnitude better than the standard ELISA with polystyrene-adsorbed gastrin. This hapten capture system reduces desorption particularly pronounced for low mass peptides, and avoids possible modifications or suppression of epitopes by the adsorption process with concomitant reduction of antibody binding affinity of the antigen. This new type of assay procedure may also represent a useful tool particularly for epitope mapping with relatively low mass synthetic protein fragments.

Fully synthetic immunogens. Part III. Synthesis of hinge-peptide/gastrin conjugates and their immunological properties.

As core molecule for the multiple attachment of antigenic peptides we have selected the human IgG1 hinge fragment 225-232/225'-232'. Two types of conjugates of this double-chain bis-cystinyl hinge-peptide were prepared i) by linking its C-termini to [NIe15]-human-little-gastrin-[2,17] and ii) by elongating the resulting hinge-peptide/[NIe15]-little-gastrin-[2-17] conjugate at the two N-termini with the human big-gastrin sequence 1-14 to produce the big-gastrin-[1-14]/hinge-peptide/little-gastrin-[2-17] conjugate. For the synthesis of these peptide structures both the route via the preformed double-chain bis-cystinyl peptide and the route via suitably protected monomeric bis-cysteinyl peptides were used. For the latter approach advantage was taken of the previous observation about the preferred oxidation of the bis-cysteinyl hinge-peptide 225-232 to the dimer in parallel alignment. Both synthetic routes led to identical products. Immunization experiments in guinea pigs with the synthetic hybrids led to surprisingly strong immune responses with anti-little-gastrin antibody titers comparable to those induced by the iso-1-cytochrome c/little-gastrin-[2-17] conjugate as carrier-hapten system. These findings show that the two gastrin constructs are fully competent immunogens. Additionally, the gastrin receptor-like specificity of the antibodies indicates that both the synthetic hybrids and the cytochrome c conjugate allow for expression of a little-gastrin-specific conformational epitope similar to the bioactive structure of this hormone. The usefulness of such synthetic hybrids is further confirmed by the observation that the bivalent immunogen, containing both the little-gastrin 2-17 and the big-gastrin 1-14 sequence, is capable of inducing an immune response against both antigenic sequences, although with different efficiency. These results fully confirm our expectations.

Epitope analysis: biotinylated short peptides as inhibitors of anti-peptide antibody.

The interaction of anti-melittin antisera with melittin-coated ELISA plates could be inhibited by biotinylated peptides of the C terminal epitope which is one of three defined antigenic sites on the hexacosapeptide melittin. Non-biotinylated short peptides and peptide derivatives were inactive. It is suggested that biotinylation of epitopic peptides enhances their inhibitory properties in a methodologically useful way.

Antigenic structure of the hexacosapeptide melittin: evidence for three determinants, one with a helical conformation.

ELISA-based epitope analysis was performed using rabbit polyclonal antisera against melittin. Antigenic sites were found at the C-terminus, in the middle section and within the N-terminal helix. Antibodies against the helical segment could discriminate between two faces of the amphiphilic helix. The antigenic sites include the bulk of the melittin hexacosapeptide, which is synonymous with a very high epitope density.