Neisseria meningitidis group B serosubtyping using monoclonal antibodies in whole-cell ELISA.

Meningococci can be classified by the presence of serotype and subtype antigens on the class 2/3 and class 1 outer membrane proteins, respectively. A typing system employing monoclonal antibodies and a WCE for detection of such antigens enabled us to sero- and/or subtype 255 out of 268 group B meningococci from 19 countries collected from 1959 till 1987. The combination of a comprehensive collection of antibodies and a sensitive, specific, large-scale screening technique greatly facilitates the assignment of bacterial isolates to their sero- or subtype. This will then allow definitive, bass-line information on the epidemiology of meningococci and on the possible construction of outer membrane protein vaccines.