PRODUCTION AND ANALYSIS OF SPECIFIC MONOCLONAL-ANTIBODIES AGAINST THECELL-WALL OF MYCOBACTERIUM-AVIUM

Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against Mycobacterium avium were produced which specifically reacted with cell walls of M. avium. The binding p attern was not limited to one subtype. The three most specific mAbs sh owed binding to the outer surface of M. avium but not to other mycobac terial or bacterial cell surfaces. The combined results of enzyme-link ed immunosorbent assay, immunoblot and dot blot showed that mAb4A006 b ound to an epitope located in the cell wall and on the cell surface an d mAb4A010 to an epitope exposed on the cell surface and the cytoplasm . The mAb4A009-binding epitope was only detectable on the cell surface but not in the cell wall or cytoplasmic fractions of M. avium. In the immunoblot technic a protein antigen with a molecular mass of 27-29 k Da was identified by the mAbs. The mAb4A006 reacted with 142 out of 14 3 M. avium subtypes 1, 4 and 8 obtained from AIDS patients. These mAbs seem to be applicable for the identification of M. avium complex afte r culture.