Search results for "POLYSIALIC ACID"

Monoclonal antibodies to polysialic acid reveal epitope sharing between invasive pathogenic bacteria, differentiating cells and tumor cells

1987

Monoclonal antibodies (mAb) for rapid diagnosis and detection of invasive bacteria and identification of pathogenic factors in infectious disease are equally important in medical microbiology and clinical pathology and may even provide a breakthrough in basic medical and cell biology research. Such a situation evolved from the application of a unique mAb against the poorly immunogenic homopolymers of alpha 2,8-linked sialic acid of Escherichia coli K1 and meningococci group B capsules which could be derived from immune-hyperreactive NZB-autoimmune mice. The cross-reactivity of this mAb with identical polysialic acid (polySA) units of the neural cell adhesion molecule (N-CAM) revealed antige…