An antibody reactive to the Gly63-Lys68 epitope of NT-proBNP exhibits O-glycosylation-independent binding

The N-terminal fragment of prohormone brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) is a commonly used biomarker for the diagnosis of congestive heart failure, although its biological function is not well known. NT-proBNP exhibits heavy O-linked glycosylation, and it is quite difficult to develop an antibody that exhibits glycosylation-independent binding. We developed an antibody that binds to the recombinant NT-proBNP protein and its deglycosylated form with similar affinities in an enzyme immunoassay. The epitope was defined as Gly(63)-Lys(68) based on mimetic peptide screening, site-directed mutagenesis and a competition assay with a peptide mimotope. The nearest O-glycosylation residues are Thr(58) and Thr(71); therefore, four amino acid residues intervene between the epitope and those residues in both directions. In conclusion, we report that an antibody reactive to Gly(63)-Lys(68) of NT-proBNP exhibits O-glycosylation-independent binding.