Keywords :
Amino Acid Sequence; Ampicillin/pharmacology; Animals; Antibody Specificity; Bacterial Proteins/pharmacology; Camels/immunology; Escherichia coli/drug effects/enzymology; Immunoglobulin Fragments/isolation & purification/pharmacology; Male; Molecular Sequence Data; Penicillin Resistance; Penicillins/pharmacology; Protein Structure, Tertiary; Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; beta-Lactamases/antagonists & inhibitors/immunology
Abstract :
[en] Small, soluble single-domain fragments derived from the unique variable region of dromedary heavy-chain antibodies (VHHs) against enzymes are known to be potent inhibitors. The immunization of dromedaries with the TEM-1 and BcII beta-lactamases has lead to the isolation of such single-domain antibody fragments specifically recognizing and inhibiting those beta-lactamases. Two VHHs were isolated that inhibit TEM-1 and one BcII inhibiting VHH was identified. All inhibitory VHHs were tight-binding inhibitors. The 50% inhibitory concentrations were determined for all inhibitors and they were all in the same range as the enzyme concentration used in the assay. Addition of the VHHs to the TEM-1 beta-lactamase, expressed on the surface of bacteria, leads to a higher ampicillin sensitivity of the bacteria. This innovative strategy could generate multiple potent inhibitors for all types of beta-lactamases.
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