The mouse antibody response to infection with Cryptococcus neoformans: VH and VL usage in polysaccharide binding antibodies.
Open Access
- 1 July 1991
- journal article
- Published by Rockefeller University Press in The Journal of Experimental Medicine
- Vol. 174 (1), 151-160
- https://doi.org/10.1084/jem.174.1.151
Abstract
Cryptococcus neoformans is a ubiquitous fungus that can cause serious infections in humans. The fungus has a polysaccharide (C. neoformans capsular polysaccharide; CNPS) capsule that contributes to its pathogenicity and can elicit an antibody response. Nevertheless, only 4 of 60 BALB/c mice chronically infected with C. neoformans had a detectable increase in serum anti-CNPS. The sera of three responder mice contained both IgM and IgG anti-CNPS antibody, and the titers of lambda and kappa anti-CNPS antibody were approximately equal. Eight IgM and one IgG3 monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) were generated from the spleen of one responder mouse, and one IgA was generated from the spleen of another mouse. Seven of the IgMs, the IgG3, and the IgA mAb had lambda light chains and were specific for serotype D CNPS. Molecular analysis confirmed that this was a highly restricted antibody response. All of the D-specific antibodies used VH441, JH3, and either V lambda 2/J lambda 2 or V lambda 1/J lambda 1, and all had the same heavy chain CDR3 amino acid sequence, even though there were differences in the nucleotide sequence of the N/D segment. One IgM mAb reacted with both serotype A and D CNPS, and this mAb used different VH and JH genetic elements and had kappa light chains. All the anti-CNPS mAbs used J proximal VH gene elements that have previously been shown to bind dextran and other polysaccharides. Sequence and Southern blot analysis indicate that the serotype-D CNPS-specific mAbs arose from only a few precursor B cells.Keywords
This publication has 32 references indexed in Scilit:
- Oral dextran sulfate (UA001) in the treatment of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and AIDS-related complex.1989
- Fc region-dependence of IgG3 anti-streptococcal group A carbohydrate antibody functional affinity. I. The effect of temperature.The Journal of Immunology, 1988
- Genetic control of the humoral response to cryptococcal capsular polysaccharide in miceImmunogenetics, 1988
- Glycosylation of a VH residue of a monoclonal antibody against alpha (1----6) dextran increases its affinity for antigen.The Journal of Experimental Medicine, 1988
- Induction of antigen-specific suppression by circulating Cryptococcus neoformans antigen.1988
- T15 PC-binding monoclonal antibodies retain specificity when they switch from IgM to IgG.The Journal of Immunology, 1988
- Cryptococcus neoformans Antibody Levels in Patients with AIDSScandinavian Journal of Infectious Diseases, 1988
- Molecular dissection of the murine antibody response to streptococcal group A carbohydrate.The Journal of Experimental Medicine, 1987
- Regulation of the assembly and expression of variable-region genes.Annual Review of Immunology, 1986
- Serologic Grouping of Cryptococcus neoformansExperimental Biology and Medicine, 1968