MULTIPLICITY OF USES OF MONOCLONAL-ANTIBODIES THAT DEFINE PAPILLOMAVIRUS LINEAR IMMUNODOMINANT EPITOPES

During the last 10 yr, we have derived monoclonal antibodies from anim als immunized with denatured bovine papillomaviruses type 1 major caps id (L1) protein, mapped their corresponding immunodominant epitopes to within a single amino acid (aa), and compared the reactivity of authe ntic L1 proteins to the predicted response by collinear analysis of th e aa sequences of the same and other papillomaviruses (PVs). The data obtained from this approach has provided us with new insights into the sensitivity and specificity of the antibody response to viral protein s. We have included here some observations and conclusions that appear to be generic for the immune response, some of which might have appli cations for working with linear epitopes in other experimental systems .