Gail Jackson

The glycopeptides of the mouse immunoglobulin A T15

Cleavage of mouse IgA T15 with papain yielded (a) a glycosylated Fab fragment, (b) a non-glycosylated Fc fragment and (c) a glycosylated C-terminal peptide. The cleavage sites at the hinge and at the end of the C alpha 3 domain were located by sequencing. The two glycopeptides were prepared from the Fab and C-terminal fragments by pronase digestion. The C alpha 1 glycopeptide at Asn 155 was complex type with alpha (1-3)galactose terminal groups, and closely resembled the Asn 171 glycopeptide of mouse IgM (Anderson et al. (1985) Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 243, 605-618). In contrast, the C-terminal glycopeptide at Asn 446 was entirely different from the corresponding IgM glycopeptide, being complex rather than high-mannose type.

A novel process for preparing an acellular pertussis vaccine composed of non-pyrogenic toxoids of pertussis toxin and filamentous hemagglutinin.

A novel process for preparing non-pyrogenic toxoids of pertussis toxin (PT) and filamentous hemagglutinin (FHA) is described. The process consists of chromatographies on perlite then on hydroxylapatite. Purification yields for PT and FHA are 62 and 68%, respectively. The purification process takes advantage of the novel use of perlite (a filter aid) for the simultaneous purification of PT and FHA. The hydroxylapatite, in addition to removing the remaining contaminants, also concentrates the antigens. The resulting PT and FHA are approximately 95% pure, and are non-pyrogenic as judged by the rabbit pyrogen test. The purification process is simple, inexpensive, and does not use blood components or toxic substances. The mild conditions in which the PT and FHA are purified ensure the recovery of native protein. The purified PT and FHA are detoxified in the presence of glycerol using glutaraldehyde and formaldehyde, respectively, to produce antigenic components of an acellular pertussis vaccine. The final PT and FHA toxoids are immunogenic in guinea-pigs and have been shown to be protective in the mouse intracerebral challenge test.

The dinitrophenyl group as a selective label in high-performance liquid chromatography of peptides.

1-Fluoro-2,4-dinitrobenzene can be used to selectively label histidine, tyrosine, and cysteine residues in maleylated proteins. The usefulness of the resulting chromophores for peptide mapping by high-performance liquid chromatography was demonstrated with the lectin from sainfoin (Onobrychis viciifolia). The 2,4-dinitrophenyl (Dnp) label also can be used in a hydrophobic modulation approach as the mobility of a labeled model peptide changes considerably when its Dnp group is removed by thiolysis. Application of the method for checking sequences obtained by DNA or amino acid methods was shown by experiments with Viciae lectins. The probable cleavage site that generates the pea lectins beta-chain from the alpha-beta precursor was identified and the sequence differences between the lentil and pea lectin beta-chains were examined.

Vaccine containing Bordetella pertussis outer membrane protein, and method of making such vaccine

A component vaccine against disease caused by infection by Bordetella pertussis, characterized by: as a first component, purified pertactin having no detectable adenylate cyclase activity, as at least one additional component thereof, at least one other purified B. pertussis antigen which is pertussis toxin (PT), filamentous haemagglutinin (FHA) and/or agglutinogens; as at least two further components thereof, at least two other purified non-Bordetella antigens which are diphtheria toxoid (D) and tetanus toxoid (T); and a pharmaceutically-acceptable carrier therefor.