A novel method for generating region-specific monoclonal antibodies to modified proteins. Application to the identification of human glucosylated low density lipoproteins.

Modifications of plasma lipoprotein structure and function resulting from in vivo post-translational nonenzymatic glycosylation may play a role in the premature atherosclerosis of patients with diabetes mellitus. This report describes the generation and characterization of six unique murine monoclonal antibodies that bind glucosylated human plasma lipoproteins, but do not react with normal plasma lipoproteins. This was accomplished by immunizing mice with homologous glucosylated low density lipoprotein. In competitive inhibition radioimmunoassays, the dominant epitope recognized by these antibodies on glucosylated low density lipoprotein was identified as glucitollysine, the reduced hexose alcohol form of glucose conjugated to the epsilon amino group of lysine. Each of these antibodies was capable of identifying glucitollysine epitopes on all reduced glucosylated proteins studied, including high density lipoprotein, albumin, hemoglobin, and transferrin. These antibodies were also capable of identifying and quantitating glucitollysine residues on the total plasma proteins and isolated lipoproteins of normal and diabetic individuals after reduction of the proteins with NaBH4. Preliminary data suggest that diabetic total plasma proteins and isolated lipoproteins contain at least threefold more immunochemically detectable glucitollysine residues than nondiabetic plasma proteins and lipoproteins. The technique described in this report should allow production of region-specific antibodies to any immunogenic modification of a protein.