The reliability of immunological identification of Neisseria gonorrhoeae using polyclonal and monoclonal antibody coagglutination reagents has been evaluated. When clinical isolates of neisseriae were tested in an "in use" trial the sensitivity and specificity of each reagent were similar and the overall agreement with carbohydrate utilisation was 97.9% (141/144) for the polyclonal antibody rea...

Abrin is a toxic ribosome-inactivating protein present in beans of Abrus precatorius, also known as rosary peas. The possibility that abrin could be used to adulterate food has made the development of assays for the detection of abrin a priority. Rabbit-derived polyclonal antibodies and mouse monoclonal antibodies were prepared against a mixture of abrin isozymes. The specificity and cross-reac...

ricin, the toxic lectin extracted from the castor bean plant (ricinus communis), consists of an a chain (rta) and a b chain (rtb). anti-a chain abs and anti-b chain abs can neutralize toxins in vivo and in vitro via blocking the binding of the toxin to the cell. also, rtb protein is able to serve as an antigen deliver to the mucosal immune system and act as an immunoadjuant. here, the genomic d...

BACKGROUND Detection of Trypanosoma cruzi antigens in clinical samples is considered an important diagnostic tool for Chagas disease. The production and use of polyclonal antibodies may contribute to an increase in the sensitivity of immunodiagnosis of Chagas disease. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS Polyclonal antibodies were raised in alpacas, rabbits, and hens immunized with trypomastigote e...

Altered membrane permeability is a hallmark of inflammation and ischemia with systemic spreading. Renal dysfunction is a risk factor for cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, and metabolic diseases. The aim of the present study was to assess proteinuria and urinary polyclonal light chains in acute stroke and chronic cerebrovascular disease compared with other neurologic diseases. Our results showed ...

Antibodies play an important role in the natural immune response to invading pathogens. The strong and specific binding to their antigens also make them indispensable tools for research, diagnostics and therapy. This thesis describes the development of methods for characterization of antibody specificity and the use of these methods to investigate the polyclonal antibody response after immuniza...

We have identified five normal individuals without known exposure to mouse immunoglobulin with "preexisting" human anti-mouse antibody (HAMA) against a panel of four mouse monoclonal antibodies and polyclonal mouse IgG. Competitive inhibition by polyclonal mouse IgG of HAMA binding to monoclonal antibody coated beads demonstrates the mouse constant region specificity of these sera. Lack of such...

Attempts were made to identify the non-Ig lymphocyte receptor responsible for B-cell induction by antigen and polyclonal B-cell activators (PBA). As a first step, the role of C'3 and Fc receptors was analyzed. It was shown that complement could be fixed onto B cells to such an extent that the lymphocytes could not bind complement-coated red cells, but this did not result in induction of polyclo...

The interleukin (IL)‑12 family cytokines have been examined as therapeutic targets in the treatment of several autoimmune diseases. Our previous study showed that a novel IL‑12 family cytokine, IL‑39 (IL‑23p19/Ebi3) mediates inflammation in lupus‑like mice. In the present study, the effect of anti‑mouse IL‑39 polyclonal antibodies on autoimmune symptoms in lupus‑like mice was investigated. Rabb...

The opioid growth factor, [Met5]-enkephalin, is an inhibitory agent of cell proliferation and maturation that interacts with the zeta (zeta) opioid receptor to modulate growth. In order to learn more about this receptor, polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies were raised against binding subunits identified on two-dimensional gels by ligand blotting. Using Western blotting, the polyclonal antibodi...