125I-labelled heat-labile toxin (from Escherichia coli) and 125I-labelled cholera toxin bound to immobilized ganglioside GM1 and Balb/c 3T3 cell membranes with identical specificities, i.e. each toxin inhibited binding of the other. Binding of both toxins to Balb/c 3T3 cell membranes was saturable, with 50% of maximal binding occurring at 0.3 nM for cholera toxin and 1.1 nM for heat-labile toxin, and the number of sites for each toxin was similar. The results suggest that both toxins recognize the same receptor, namely ganglioside GM1. In contrast, binding of 125I-heat-labile toxin to rabbit intestinal brush borders at 0 degree C was not inhibited by cholera toxin, although heat-labile toxin inhibited 125I-cholera toxin binding. In addition, there were 3-10-fold more binding sites for heat-labile toxin than for cholera toxin. At 37 degrees C cholera toxin, but more particularly its B-subunit, did significantly inhibit 125I-heat-labile toxin binding. Binding of 125I-cholera toxin was saturable, with 50% maximal of binding occurring at 1-2 nM, and was quantitatively inhibited by 10(-8) M unlabelled toxin or B-subunit. By contrast, binding of 125I-heat-labile toxin was non-saturable (up to 5 nM), and 2 X 10(-7) M unlabelled B-subunit was required to quantitatively inhibit binding. Neuraminidase treatment of brush borders increased 125I-cholera toxin but not heat-labile toxin binding. Extensive digestion of membranes with Streptomyces griseus proteinase or papain did not decrease the binding of either toxin. The additional binding sites for heat-labile toxin are not gangliosides. Thin-layer chromatograms of gangliosides which were overlayed with 125I-labelled toxins showed that binding of both toxins was largely restricted to ganglioside GM1. However, 125I-heat-labile toxin was able to bind to brush-border galactoproteins resolved by SDS/polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis and transferred to nitrocellulose.

Secretory immunoglobulin A (IgA) antibodies directed against cholera toxin (CT) are thought to be important in resistance to oral challenge with virulent Vibrio cholerae, although alternative mechanisms for protection of intestinal epithelia against CT-induced fluid secretion have been proposed. The ability of anti-CT IgA to block the effects of CT on human enterocytes has not been directly tested because of the lack of a well-defined in vitro intestinal epithelial cell system to directly measure toxin action and the limited availability of purified anti-CT IgA antibodies. We have generated hybridomas that produce monoclonal IgA and IgG antibodies directed against CT by fusion of Peyer's patch cells with mouse myeloma cells after oral-systemic immunization of mice with CT and CT B-subunit protein. All of the anti-CT antibodies recognized the B subunit. Three clones (designated anti-CTB IgA-1, IgA-2, and IgA-3) which produced IgA antibodies in dimeric and polymeric forms were selected. Checkerboard immunoblotting demonstrated that IgA-1 recognized an epitope distinct from that recognized by IgA-2 and IgA-3 and that none of the antibodies were directed against the binding site of GM1, the intestinal cell membrane toxin receptor. The protective capacity of these IgAs was tested in vitro with human T84 colon carcinoma cells grown on permeable supports as confluent monolayers of polarized enterocytes. When each anti-CTB IgA was mixed with 10 nM CT and applied to the apical surfaces of T84 cell monolayers, all three IgAs blocked CT-induced Cl- secretion in a dose-dependent manner and completely inhibited binding of rhodamine-labelled CT to apical cell membranes. Thus, monoclonal anti-CTB IgA antibodies are sufficient to protect human enterocytes in vitro against CT binding and action.

Anacker , R. L. (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Rocky Mountain Laboratory, Hamilton, Mont.), R. A. Finkelstein, W. T. Haskins, M. Landy, K. C. Milner, E. Ribi, and P. W. Stashak . Origin and properties of naturally occurring hapten from Escherichia coli . J. Bacteriol. 88: 1705–1720. 1964.—Haptens found in preparations of endotoxin and in fractions of disrupted cells, particularly one termed “native hapten,” which appeared to be associated with the protoplasm of cells rather than with cell walls, have been further investigated with a view to establishing their origin and composition as well as their host-reactive properties. For this purpose, cells from a smooth strain of Escherichia coli O111:B4 were either extracted directly or disrupted and separated into cell-wall and protoplasmic fractions. Haptens were obtained by gel filtration of endotoxins, by trichloroacetic acid extraction of protoplasm, and by a mild acid hydrolysis of endotoxin. Several lines of evidence indicated that native hapten originated in the protoplasm rather than by autolysis or degradation of cell-wall endotoxin during procedures employed in disruption. In gel diffusion and quantitative precipitin tests, no hapten was identical with endotoxin, but native hapten was serologically the most complex of the haptens and precipitated the most antibody. Native and acid haptens, on a weight basis, fixed about 1% of the quantity of complement fixed by homologous endotoxin. Haptens did not stimulate the production of antibodies in mice or rabbits and did not elicit endotoxic host reactions. Chemically, native hapten differed from endotoxin and from acid hapten in that it lacked phosphorus, heptose, long-chain fatty acids, and 2-keto-3-deoxyoctonate. These substances did not appear to be determinants of antigenic specificity, but they may provide necessary bonds for assembling hapten-like units into fully antigenic and toxic macromolecules.