A novel monoclonal antibody targeting carboxymethyllysine, an advanced glycation end product in atherosclerosis and pancreatic cancer

PLoS One. 2018 Feb 8;13(2):e0191872. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0191872. eCollection 2018.

Abstract

Advanced glycation end products are formed by non-enzymatic reactions between proteins and carbohydrates, causing irreversible lysine and arginine alterations that severely affect protein structure and function. The resulting modifications induce inflammation by binding to scavenger receptors. An increase in advanced glycation end products is observed in a number of diseases e.g. atherosclerosis and cancer. Since advanced glycation end products also are present in healthy individuals, their detection and quantification are of great importance for usage as potential biomarkers. Current methods for advanced glycation end product detection are though limited and solely measure total glycation. This study describes a new epitope-mapped single chain variable fragment, D1-B2, against carboxymethyllysine, produced from a phage library that was constructed from mouse immunizations. The phage library was selected against advanced glycation end product targets using a phage display platform. Characterization of its binding pattern was performed using large synthetic glycated peptide and protein libraries displayed on microarray slides. D1-B2 showed a preference for an aspartic acid, three positions N-terminally from a carboxymethyllysine residue and also bound to a broad collection of glycated proteins. Positive immunohistochemical staining of mouse atherosclerotic plaques and of a tissue microarray of human pancreatic tumors confirmed the usability of the new scFv for advanced glycation end product detection in tissues. This study demonstrates a promising methodology for high-throughput generation of epitope-mapped monoclonal antibodies against AGE.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Antibodies, Monoclonal / immunology*
  • Atherosclerosis / metabolism*
  • Epitope Mapping
  • Female
  • Glycation End Products, Advanced / immunology*
  • Glycation End Products, Advanced / metabolism
  • Humans
  • Lysine / analogs & derivatives*
  • Lysine / immunology
  • Lysine / metabolism
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred BALB C
  • Pancreatic Neoplasms / metabolism*
  • Protein Array Analysis

Substances

  • Antibodies, Monoclonal
  • Glycation End Products, Advanced
  • N(6)-carboxymethyllysine
  • Lysine

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Danish Research Council (https://dff.dk/en/application), grant nr. 4005-00285, received by OB. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.