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. 1994 Jun;47(6):524–528. doi: 10.1136/jcp.47.6.524

Epitope analysis of antibodies recognising the cell proliferation associated nuclear antigen previously defined by the antibody Ki-67 (Ki-67 protein).

M H Kubbutat 1, G Key 1, M Duchrow 1, C Schlüter 1, H D Flad 1, J Gerdes 1
PMCID: PMC494740  PMID: 7520455

Abstract

AIMS--To elucidate the fine specificities of the antibodies MIB 1 and MIB 3 and of additional monoclonal antibodies which also recognise the Ki-67 protein (MIB 5, IND.64, JG-67-2a). METHODS--Different parts of the Ki-67 protein cDNA were expressed in Escherichia coli. Bacterial lysates were separated by sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and blotted on to nitrocellulose. Additionally different peptides were synthesised on a membrane support (SPOT-Blot). The immunoreactivity of the antibodies with the recombinant proteins and the immobilised synthetic peptides, respectively, was analysed. A competition enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using a soluble synthetic peptide was also performed. RESULTS--The epitopes of all antibodies tested were contained within the same region of seven amino acids. The antibodies MIB 1 and MIB 3 required the five amino acid sequence FKELF for binding, whereas Ki-67, JG-67-2a, MIB 5 and IND.64 detected the sequence FKEL. CONCLUSIONS--It is concluded that the amino acid sequence FKELF represents an immunodominant area of the Ki-67 protein and that there is no correlation between the ability to detect the Ki-67 protein in paraffin wax sections irradiated with microwaves and the epitopes recognised by the antibodies.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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