Journal
ANALYTICAL BIOCHEMISTRY
Volume 295, Issue 1, Pages 76-81Publisher
ACADEMIC PRESS INC
DOI: 10.1006/abio.2001.5175
Keywords
phosphosphilicity; aluminum-containing adjuvant; catalysis; fluorogenic substrate
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Aluminum-containing adjuvants are widely used in a variety of vaccine products, such as recombinant proteins, virus-like particles, conjugated polysaccharides, and recently DNA vaccines. Aluminum-containing adjuvants are also known to have a high affinity to inorganic phosphate and its mono- or diesters. Since phosphate groups are present in many antigens as well as the natural physiological environment, a better understanding of the interactions between phosphate and phospho-containing species could help in the design of improved vaccines. This report describes a convenient and novel continuous procedure to measure the avidity denoted by the new term phosphophilicity of phosphate and phosphate esters to the surface of aluminum-containing adjuvants. The assay measures the rate of hydrolysis of a fluorogenic substrate 6,8-difluoro-4-methylumbelliferyl phosphate (DiFMUP)-with a microplate reader. This method was based on the fundamental bioorganic phenomenon that when a tight binding event occurs, the effective concentration of nucleophile(s) will be significantly increased in the proximity of the P atom for a nucleophilic reaction (i.e., the cleavage of the P-O bond) to take place. A very good leaving group (pK(a) of DiFMU similar to 4.7) in the phosphate monoester substrate makes the assay highly sensitive. Top reading of the nascent fluorescence makes the assay very convenient with no need to separate the particulate adjuvants from the reaction mixtures. The results from this assay are consistent with catalysis of the chromogenic phosphate mono- or diesters. (C) 2001 Academic Press.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available