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. 1985 Aug;49(2):371–377. doi: 10.1128/iai.49.2.371-377.1985

Immunochemical characterization of a protein associated with Mycobacterium leprae cell wall.

T P Gillis, R A Miller, D B Young, S R Khanolkar, T M Buchanan
PMCID: PMC262025  PMID: 3894233

Abstract

A panel of nine monoclonal antibodies to Mycobacterium leprae were used to characterize a protein antigen of the bacillus. Two monoclonal antibodies (IVD8 and IIIE9) were specific for M. leprae and reacted with an epitope (CWPa) present on a protein molecule associated with the cell wall fraction of M. leprae. This protein, designated cell wall-associated protein (CWP), lost its immunoreactivity upon treatment with trypsin and had an apparent molecular weight of 65,000, though additional lower-molecular-weight forms of the protein were observed by immunoblotting. Four other cross-reactive epitopes (CWPb, CWPc, CWPd, and CWPe) were defined on the same molecule using seven independent monoclonal antibodies. Therefore, M. leprae possesses a trypsin-sensitive, heat-stable protein associated with the cell wall which contains at least one species-specific and four cross-reactive antigenic determinants.

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Selected References

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