A Cocktail of Thermally Stable, Chemically Synthesized Capture Agents for the Efficient Detection of Anti-gp41 Antibodies from Human Sera and Techniques

Citation

Pfeilsticker, Jessica A. (2014) A Cocktail of Thermally Stable, Chemically Synthesized Capture Agents for the Efficient Detection of Anti-gp41 Antibodies from Human Sera and Techniques. Dissertation (Ph.D.), California Institute of Technology. doi:10.7907/0FT2-EF04. https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechTHESIS:05262014-170142267

Abstract

This thesis reports on a method to improve in vitro diagnostic assays that detect immune response, with specific application to HIV-1. The inherent polyclonal diversity of the humoral immune response was addressed by using sequential in situ click chemistry to develop a cocktail of peptide-based capture agents, the components of which were raised against different, representative anti-HIV antibodies that bind to a conserved epitope of the HIV-1 envelope protein gp41. The cocktail was used to detect anti-HIV-1 antibodies from a panel of sera collected from HIV-positive patients, with improved signal-to-noise ratio relative to the gold standard commercial recombinant protein antigen. The capture agents were stable when stored as a powder for two months at temperatures close to 60°C.

Thesis Files