Isolation and characterization of monoclonal antibodies to Shiga-like toxin II of enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli and use of the monoclonal antibodies in a colony enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay

The major obstacle in large-scale epidemiological investigations of the incidence of Shiga-like toxin (SLT)-producing Escherichia coli in diarrheal stools is the lack of a rapid, specific test to detect toxin. Enterohemorrhagic E. coli produces elevated levels of SLT-I, SLT-II, or both cytotoxins (also called Verotoxins). SLT-I but not SLT-II can be neutralized by antiserum to purified Shiga toxin and by monoclonal antibodies to the B subunit of SLT-I. In this study, monoclonal antibodies were generated against a crude preparation of SLT-II produced by an E. coli K-12 strain lysogenized with the 933W toxin-converting phage of enterohemorrhagic E. coli 933. Hybridoma culture supernatants were screened for anti-SLT-II antibodies by a cytotoxicity neutralization assay and by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Of 53 ELISA-positive lines, 5 were capable of neutralizing the cytotoxicity of SLT-II but not of SLT-I, Shiga toxin, or a variant of SLT-II produced by E. coli that causes edema disease of swine. All five monoclonal antibodies immunoprecipitated the isolated A subunit of SLT-II but not the B subunit. Of these five neutralizing monoclonal antibodies, four were of the immunoglobulin M class and one belonged to the immunoglobulin G1 subclass. All five lines had kappa light chains. These neutralizing monoclonal antibodies have been used as probes in a colony ELISA to detect SLT-II-positive bacterial colonies. The colony ELISA with these monoclonal antibodies is a specific, sensitive test with potential diagnostic value.