Characterization of adenovirus hexons by their epitope composition.

For the investigation of epitope composition of different adenovirus hexon types sixty-one mouse ascitic fluids containing monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) developed in three different panels were used. The distinction and marking of the different epitopes recognized by the MAbs were carried out by the determination of the composite cross-reactivity pattern, the titer and the correlation coefficient of all the 61 MAbs with 21 different hexon types representing all the six human subgenera, as well as different bovine and simian adenoviruses. The distinct epitopes were marked by two numbers referring the homologous hexon type to which the MAbs were directed and the serial number of the epitope specified by the different members of the given panel of the MAbs. The three panels of MAbs recognized 22 epitopes on the 21 hexon types among them a genus and three type specific ones and 18 different bi- and multilateral intertype (IT) specific epitopes that grouped adenoviruses within the genus, independently from the subgenus they belong to. Considering that the type specific epitope could be present only on the homologous hexon type, the largest number of the different epitopes distinguishable by the MAbs used could be 20 on the homologous hexon and 19 on the heterologous ones. It was found that the total number of IT specific epitopes on the hexons varied between 2 and 18. The distribution of the distinct specific epitopes on the different hexon types was different, as expected. The antigenic structure of the individual hexon types were characterized by the determination of their IT specific epitope spectrum. By pairwise analysis ten human hexon types formed three epitope clusters (types 4 and 19; types 8, 9, 9/13 and 10; as well as all types of subgenus C) showing identical epitope spectra. No clustering was found with human type 7, 12, 13, 18, 26, 27, 35 and 41, as well as with bovine and simian adenovirus hexons studied. However, they displayed a closer or looser antigenic relationship among each other and to members of the epitope clusters. The degree of antigenic relationship could be expressed by the similarity/dissimilarity percentage calculated from the number of the identical and different epitopes present on any two given hexon types.