Epitopic Analysis of Antigenic Determinants on the Surface of Dengue-2 Virions Using Monoclonal Antibodies

E. A. Henchal
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J. M. McCown
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D. S. Burke Department of Virus Diseases, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Washington, DC 20307

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M. C. Seguin
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W. E. Brandt
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The relative binding sites of dengue serotype-specific, dengue subcomplex-specific, dengue complex-specific, flavivirus subgroup-reactive, and flavivirus group-reactive monoclonal antibody preparations were identified by using competitive antibody binding assays. A dengue complex-specific epitope, capable of mediating infection enhancement, was identified on a 20,000 dalton protein found on intracellular virions. The other epitopes were assigned relative positions on the E glycoprotein by competitive antibody binding. These could be grouped into 3 linkage groups based on the ability of some monoclonal antibodies to block contiguous binding sites. Some antibodies were able to increase or ā€œpromoteā€ the binding of antibodies from other linkage groups. These results suggest that a continuum of antigenic reactivities exist on the E glycoprotein of the dengue viruses, and that the conformation of this glycoprotein may be altered after antibody binding.

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