Staphuloccocus aureus enterotoxin A (SEA) is a toxin involved in numerous food poisoning cases. To develop a detection test specific for this toxin, different approaches have been envisaged to obtain the highest antibody titer sera against a peptide sequence from this protein. The present work compares the properties of antibodies raised against the peptide epitope by classical and multiple antigen peptide (MAP) system approaches. Different immunization protocols were used: BALB/c mice were immunized either with the peptide or the MAP alone in Freund's adjuvant, co-immunized with the keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH) protein or, with the peptide, conjugated to this carrier KLH protein.The extent of reaction ... More
Staphuloccocus aureus enterotoxin A (SEA) is a toxin involved in numerous food poisoning cases. To develop a detection test specific for this toxin, different approaches have been envisaged to obtain the highest antibody titer sera against a peptide sequence from this protein. The present work compares the properties of antibodies raised against the peptide epitope by classical and multiple antigen peptide (MAP) system approaches. Different immunization protocols were used: BALB/c mice were immunized either with the peptide or the MAP alone in Freund's adjuvant, co-immunized with the keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH) protein or, with the peptide, conjugated to this carrier KLH protein.The extent of reaction of the antibodies to the MAP construct with the parent protein was found to be significantly less than the antibodies raised against the monomeric peptide co-immunized with or conjugated to a carrier protein but more that the antibodies raised against the peptide alone. Inversely, co-immunization of the MAP with the KLH was not able to raise the immune response as it was observed with the monomeric peptide. The results suggest that, for the epitope chosen here, MAP constructs were not the most effective option to induce sera with high levels of antibodies that react with the native protein.