Abstract

Murine hybridoma monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) were produced against the capsular polysaccharide (CPs) of serogroups A, C, W-135 and Y meningococci (MenA, MenC, MenW, MenY) in order to develop immunological reagents for the identification of meningococcal polysaccharides. Each serogroup-specific MAb reacted with the CPs from its homologous serogroup only and did not react with CPs from the other three serogroups. The affinity constant (Ka) of the four MAbs measured by non-competitive ELISA was 6.62 x 10(9), 2.76 x 10(9), 1.48 x 10(9) and 3.8 x 10(9) M-1 for MenA, MenC, MenW and MenY MAbs respectively. The application of these MAbs for identity tests was demonstrated by their abilities to correctly identify the CPs from serogroups A, C, W-135 and Y in meningococcal CPs-based vaccines through ELISA. The MAbs obtained in this work are a very valuable set of tools for study meningococcal polysaccharides vaccines. (c) 2013 The International Alliance for Biological Standardization. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.