Publications by authors named "Bernard W Senior"

A detailed investigation of the binding of secretory component to immunoglobulin A (IgA) in human secretory IgA2 (S-IgA2) was made possible by the development of a new method of purifying S-IgA1, S-IgA2 and free secretory component from human colostrum using thiophilic gel chromatography and chromatography on Jacalin-agarose. Sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of unreduced pure S-IgA2 revealed that, unlike in S-IgA1, a significant proportion of the secretory component was bound non-covalently in S-IgA2. When S-IgA1 was incubated with a protease purified from Proteus mirabilis the secretory component, but not the alpha-chain, was cleaved.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The influence of regions, other than the hinge, on the susceptibility of human IgA1 to cleavage by diverse bacterial IgA1 proteases, was examined using IgA1 mutants bearing amino acid deletions, substitutions, and domain swaps. IgA1 lacking the tailpiece retained its susceptibility to cleavage by all of the IgA1 proteases. The domain swap molecule alpha1alpha2gamma3, in which the CH3 domain of IgA1 was exchanged for that of human IgG1, was resistant to cleavage with the type 1 and 2 serine IgA1 proteases of Neisseria meningitidis, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, and Haemophilus influenzae, but remained sensitive to cleavage with the metallo-IgA1 proteases of Streptococcus pneumoniae, Streptococcus oralis, Streptococcus sanguis, and Streptococcus mitis.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The influences of IgA hinge length and composition on its susceptibility to cleavage by bacterial IgA1 proteases were examined using a panel of IgA hinge mutants. The IgA1 proteases of Streptococcus pneumoniae, Streptococcus sanguis strains SK4 and SK49, Neisseria meningitidis, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, and Haemophilus influenzae cleaved IgA2-IgA1 half hinge, an Ab featuring half of the IgA1 hinge incorporated into the equivalent site in IgA1 protease-resistant IgA2, whereas those of Streptococcus mitis, Streptococcus oralis, and S. sanguis strain SK1 did not.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Components of the human immunoglobulin A1 (IgA1) hinge governing sensitivity to cleavage by bacterial IgA1 proteases were investigated. Recombinant antibodies with distinct hinge mutations were constructed from a hybrid comprised of human IgA2 bearing half of the human IgA1 hinge region. This hybrid antibody and all the mutant antibodies derived from it were resistant to cleavage by the IgA1 proteases from Streptococcus oralis and Streptococcus mitis biovar 1 strains but were cleaved to various degrees by those of Streptococcus pneumoniae, some Streptococcus sanguis strains, and the type 1 and 2 IgA1 proteases of Haemophilus influenzae, Neisseria meningitidis, and Neisseria gonorrhoeae.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The cleavage of human serum monomeric immunoglobulin A1 (IgA1) and human secretory IgA1 (S-IgA1) by IgA1 proteinase of Neisseria meningitidis and cleavage by the proteinase from Proteus mirabilis have been compared. For serum IgA1, both proteinases cleaved only the alpha chain. N.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The amino acid sequence requirements in the hinge of human immunoglobulin A1 (IgA1) for cleavage by IgA1 proteases of different species of Streptococcus were investigated. Recombinant IgA1 antibodies were generated with point mutations at proline 227 and threonine 228, the residues lying on either side of the peptide bond at which all streptococcal IgA1 proteases cleave wild-type human IgA1. The amino acid substitutions produced no major effect upon the structure of the mutant IgA1 antibodies or their functional ability to bind to Fcalpha receptors.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF