Investigation of antigen-antibody interactions of sulfonamides with a monoclonal antibody in a fluorescence polarization immunoassay using 3D-QSAR models

Changing Cross-Reactivity for Different Immunoassays Using the Same Antibodies: Theoretical Description and Experimental Confirmation

Many applications of immunoassays involve the possible presence of structurally similar compounds that bind with antibodies, but with different affinities. In this regard, an important characteristic of an immunoassay is its cross-reactivity: the possibility of detecting various compounds in comparison with a certain standard. Based on cross-reactivity, analytical systems are assessed as either high-selective (responding strictly to a specific compound) or low-selective (responding to a number of similar compounds). The present study demonstrates that cross-reactivity is not an intrinsic characteristic of antibodies but can vary for different formats of competitive immunoassays using the same antibodies. Assays with sensitive detection of markers and, accordingly, implementation at low concentrations of antibodies and modified (competing) antigens are characterized by lower cross-reactivities and are, thus, more specific than assays requiring high concentrations of markers and interacting reagents. This effect was confirmed by both mathematical modeling and experimental comparison of an enzyme immunoassay and a fluorescence polarization immunoassay of sulfonamides and fluoroquinolones. Thus, shifting to lower concentrations of reagents decreases cross-reactivities by up to five-fold. Moreover, the cross-reactivities are changed even in the same assay format by varying the ratio of immunoreactants’ concentrations and shifting from the kinetic or equilibrium mode of the antigen-antibody reaction. The described patterns demonstrate the possibility of modulating immunodetection selectivity without searching for new binding reactants.

QSAR analysis of immune recognition for triazine herbicides based on immunoassay data for polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies

A common task in the immunodetection of structurally close compounds is to analyze the selectivity of immune recognition; it is required to understand the regularities of immune recognition and to elucidate the basic structural elements which provide it. Triazines are compounds of particular interest for such research due to their high variability and the necessity of their monitoring to provide safety for agricultural products and foodstuffs. We evaluated the binding of 20 triazines with polyclonal (pAb) and monoclonal (mAb) antibodies obtained using atrazine as the immunogenic hapten. A total of over 3000 descriptors were used in the quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) analysis of binding activities (pIC₅₀). A comparison of the two enzyme immunoassay systems showed that the system with pAb is much easier to describe using 2D QSAR methodology, while the system with mAb can be described using the 3D QSAR CoMFA. Thus, for the 3D QSAR model of the polyclonal antibodies, the main statistical parameter q² (‘leave-many-out’) is equal to 0.498, and for monoclonal antibodies, q² is equal to 0.566. Obviously, in the case of pAb, we deal with several targets, while in the case of mAb the target is one, and therefore it is easier to describe it using specific fields of molecular interactions distributed in space.

Substructure-activity relationship studies on antibody recognition for phenylurea compounds using competitive immunoassay and computational chemistry

Based on the structural features of fluometuron, an immunizing hapten was synthesized and conjugated to bovine serum albumin as an immunogen to prepare a polyclonal antibody. However, the resultant antibody indicated cross-reactivity with 6 structurally similar phenylurea herbicides, with binding activities (expressed by IC₅₀ values) ranging from 1.67 µg/L to 42.71 µg/L. All 6 phenylurea herbicides contain a common moiety and three different substitutes. To understand how these three different chemical groups affect the antibody-phenylurea recognition activity, quantum chemistry, using density function theory (DFT) at the B3LYP/6-311++ G(d,p) level of theory, was employed to optimize all phenylurea structures, followed by determination of the 3D conformations of these molecules, pharmacophore analysis, and molecular electrostatic potential (ESP) analysis. The molecular modeling results confirmed that the geometry configuration, pharmacophore features and electron distribution in the substituents were related to the antibody binding activity. Spearman correlation analysis further elucidated that the geometrical and electrostatic properties on the van der Waals (vdW) surface of the substituents played a critical role in the antibody-phenylurea recognition process.

Four Specific Hapten Conformations Dominating Antibody Specificity: Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationship Analysis for Quinolone Immunoassay

Antibody-based immunoassay methods have been important tools for monitoring drug residues in animal foods. However, because of limited knowledge about the quantitative structure-activity relationships between a hapten and its resultant antibody specificity, antibody production with the desired specificity is still a huge challenge. In this study, the three-dimensional quantitative structure-activity relationship (3D QSAR) was analyzed in accordance with the cross-reactivity of quinolone drugs reacting with the antibody raised by pipemidic acid as the immunizing hapten and compared with the reported cross-reactivity data and their hapten structures. It was found that the specificity of a quinolone antibody was strongly related to the conformation of the hapten used and that hapten conformations shaped like the letters "I", "P", and "Φ" were essential for the desired high specificity with low cross-reactivity, but that the hapten conformation shaped like the letter "Y" led to an antibody with broad specificity and high cross-reactivity. Almost all of the antibodies against quinolones could result from these four hapten conformations. It was first found that the concrete conformations dominated the specificity of the antibody to quinolone, which will be of significance for the accurate hapten design, predictable antibody specificity, and better understanding the recognition mechanism between haptens and the antibodies for immunoassays.

New haptens synthesis, antibody production and comparative molecular field analysis for tetracyclines

In this work, two novel haptens of tetracycline (TC) were synthesized and used to produce a polyclonal antibody for TC.