An anti-bacterial monoclonal antibody that targets pathogenic bacteria
expressing the type 3 secretion system for therapeutic and diagnostic
applications
Abstract
It is predicted that failure to address the antibiotic-resistance crisis
will result in an annual death rate of 10 million people by the year
2050. To grapple with the challenges of the impending crisis, there is
an urgent need for novel anti-bacterial agents and rapid diagnostic
tools. Here, we developed a novel monoclonal antibody – known as
mAb-EspB-B7 – that targets EspB, a component within the bacterial type
3 secretion system (T3SS), which is mainly expressed in Gram-negative
pathogens and is essential for bacterial infectivity. We found that
mAb-EspB-B7 has high affinity and specificity towards recombinant and
native EspB proteins, is stable over a range of pH levels, temperatures
and salt concentrations, and retains its functionality in human serum.
We identified the epitope for mAb-EspB-B7 and validated it by
competitive ELISA. Since this epitope is conserved across several
T3SS-harboring pathogens, mAb-EspB-B7 holds great potential for
development as an anti-bacterial agent or as the active component in
precise and rapid diagnostic tools.