Production and Partial Characterization of Monoclonal Antibodies to Leishmania

Background: Monoclonal antibody technology allows identification of amastigote-specific antigen in human tissue biopsies and search for a suitable vaccine candidate, which may induce a long lasting immunity. Objectives: Production and partial characterization of seven monoclonal antibodies against Leishmania tropica promstigotes. Methods: Seven murine monoclonal antibodies of the IgG isotype were produced against the stationary stage promastigotes of Leishmania tropica. Results: Extensive cross reactivity was found within 4 reference strains and isolates from the patients. Non-Leishmanial antigens were not recognized by any of the antibodies. One antibody recognized a diffuse band 64 to 86 kDa, and the other 6 recognized 1, 2, or more bands in immunoblotting of soluble antigens of promastigotes. The reaction of these 7 antibodies with the soluble extracts of 4 reference strains of Leishmania and 10 isolates from patients was studied. Conclusion: Although these antibodies were not suitable for identification purposes, the characterization of shared epitopes may be considered in studying the antigenic structure of these organisms. Further experiments may confirm the idea that some of these epitopes are suitable vaccine candidates. Iran J Med Sci 2002 27(2):75-79