Summary
Monoclonal antibodies with differing specificity were prepared against the Josiah strain of the Lassa virus. All monoclonal antibodies were characterized by subclass determination and the immunofluorescence test against Lassa, LCM (WE & Arm strain), Junin, Machupo, and other arenavirus antigens. In radioimmune precipitation tests using purified Lassa virus antigen all monoclonal antibodies precipitated a single band of 60 kd, specific for the viral nucleoprotein (p 60). Three domains (A, B, C) were identified on the surface of the Lassa virus nucleoprotein using an ELISA-inhibition test. All domains carried different Lassa virus specific epitopes. In addition, the A-domain carried a group specific epitope present within the arenavirus family as a whole as shown by cross-reaction in immunofluorescence tests. The B-domain only carries Lassa virus specific epitopes, whereas the C-domain has a type specific and a subgroup specific (Lassa, LCM) epitope.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Buchmeier MJ, Parekh BS (1987) Protein structure and expression among arenaviruses. Curr Top Microbiol Immunol 133: 41–57
Buchmeier MJ (1984) Antigenic and structural studies on the glycoprotein of lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus. In: Compans RW, Bishop DHL (eds) Segmented negative strand viruses. Arenaviruses, bunyaviruses, and orthomyxoviruses. Academic Press, New York, pp 193–200
Buchmeier MJ, Elder JH, Oldstone MBA (1978) Protein structure of the lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus: identification of the virus structural and cell associated polypeptides. Virology 83: 133–145
Buckley S, Casals J (1970) Lassa fever a new virus disease of man from West Africa. III. Isolation and characterization of the virus. Am J Trop Med Hyg 19: 680–691
Carey D, Kemp G, White H, Pinneo L, Addy R, Fom A, Stroh G, Casals J, Henderson B (1972) Lassa fever, epidemiologic aspects of the 1970 epidemic, Jos. Nigeria. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg 66: 402–408
Clegg CJS, Lloyd G (1987) Vaccinia recombinant expressing Lassa virus internal nucleocapsid protein protects guinea pigs against Lassa fever. Lancet 2: 186–188
Clegg CJS, Barber G, Chamberlain J, Oram K (1986) Expression of the Lassa virus nucleocapsid gene fragments in bacteria. Med Microbiol Immunol (Berl) 175: 93–95
Clegg CJS, Barber G, Chamberlain J, Oram K (1985) Mapping antibody binding sites on fragments of the Lassa virus nucleoprotein expressed inE. coli. Virus Res 3 [Suppl 1]
Clegg CJS, Lloyd G (1983) Structural and cell associated proteins of Lassa virus. J Gen Virol 64: 1127–1136
Damonte EB, Mersich SE, Candurra NA, Coto CE (1985) Junin and Tacaribe viruses: neutralizing and immunoprecipitating cross-negativity. Med Microbiol Immunol (Berl) 175: 85–88
Elliot LH, McCormick JB, Johnson KM (1982) Inactivation of Lassa, Marburg and Ebola viruses by γ-irradiation. J Clin Microbiol 16: 704–708
Galfré G, Milstein C (1981) Preparation of monoclonal antibodies, strategies and procedures. Methods Enzymol 73: 3–46
Gard GP, Vezza AC, Bishop DHL, Compans RW (1977) Structural proteins of Tacaribe and Tamiami virions. Virology 83: 84–95
Harnish DG, Leng WC, Rawls WE (1981) Characterization of polypeptides immunoprecipitable from Pichinde virus-infected BHK-21 cells. J Virol 38: 840–848
Johnson K, Wiebenga N, MacKenzie R, Kuns M, Touraso N, Shelekow A, Webb P, Justines G, Beye H (1965) Virus isolations from human cases of hemorrhagic fever in Bolivia. Proc Soc Exp Biol Med 118: 113–118
Knobloch J, Albiez EJ, Schmitz H (1982) A serological survey on viral hemorragic fevers in Liberia. Ann Virol (Institute Pasteur) 131: 125–128
Köhler G, Milstein C (1975) Continuous cultures of fused cells secreting antibody of predefined specifity. Nature 256: 495–497
Laemmli UK (1970) Cleavage of structural proteins during the assembly of the head of bacteriophage T4. Nature 227: 680–685
Lukashevich IS, Lemeshko NN (1985) Machupo virus polypeptides: identification by immunoprecipitation. Arch Virol 86: 85–99
McCormick JB (1987) Epidemiology and control of Lassa fever. Curr Top Microbiol Immunol 134: 68–78
Schmitz H, Wolf HR (1986) Use of monoclonal antibody for the detection of Lassa virus antibody and antigen in patients with Lassa fever. Med Microbiol Immunol (Berl) 175: 181–182
Wilchek W, Bayer EA (1984) The avidin-biotin complex in immunology. Immunol Today 5: 39–43
Wulff H, Lange JV, Webb PA (1978) Interrelationship among arenaviruses measured by indirect immunofluorescence. Intervirology 9: 344–350
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hufert, F.T., Lüdke, W. & Schmitz, H. Epitope mapping of the Lassa virus nucleoprotein using monoclonal anti-nucleocapsid antibodies. Archives of Virology 106, 201–212 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01313953
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01313953