Peptide mimotopes of complex carbohydrates in Salmonella enterica serovar typhi which react with both carbohydrate-specific monoclonal antibody and polyclonal sera from typhoid patients.

Polyclonal sera from typhoid patients and a monoclonal antibody, mAb ATVi, which recognizes the capsular polysaccharide Vi antigen (ViCPS), were used to select for peptides that mimic the ViCPS by using a phage-displayed random 12-mer peptide library. Two major common mimotopes selected from the library carried the amino acid sequences TSHHDSHGLHRV and ENHSPVNIAHKL. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) showed that these peptides carry mimotopes to ViCPS. Phage clones that contained the 12-mer peptides were also tested against pooled/individual typhoid patients' sera and found to have 3 to 5 times higher binding compared to normal sera. By using Phage-ELISA assays, the derived synthetic peptides, TSHHDSHGLHRV and ENHSPVNIAHKL, were tested against a monoclonal antibody mAb ATVi and over 2-fold difference in binding was found between these peptides and a control unrelated peptide, CTLTTKLYC. Inhibition of the mAb's binding to ViCPS indicated that the synthetic peptides successfully competed with the capsular polysaccharide for antibody binding.