Design and Synthesis of Class-specific Haptens for Fumonisin B₁ (FB₁)

Fumonisin B₁ can cause a series of diseases in animals and correlate to the incidence of human esophageal cancer. Due to its toxicity and carcinogenicity, it is necessary to develop a rapid method to detect FB₁. Creative Biolabs offers the design and synthesis of class-specific haptens for Fumonisin B₁ for the rapid and efficient production of antibodies against FB₁ by using a conjugate of FB₁-carriers as the immunogen.

Fumonisin B₁ (FB₁)

Fumonisin B₁ (FB₁), the most common and highest toxic of fumonisin species of all the fumonisins, is the most thoroughly studied food-borne carcinogenic mycotoxin. FB₁ presents typically about 70% of total fumonisins in naturally contaminated maize, is the most frequent in maize among fumonisins. FB₁ is classified in Group 2B, as it may cause cancer in humans. FB₁ is attention hepatotoxic and nephrotoxic secondary metabolites all over the world due to the strong toxicity and potent carcinogenicity. All of the fumonisins B series contain a single primary amine attached to C-2 of the backbone. The molecular formula of FB₁ is C34H59NO15; theoretically, there are thousands of stereoisomers of fumonisins that can be synthesized based on 10 chiral centers of FB₁ toxin. The FB₁ is generally in part characterized by the presence of the TCA groups at the C-14 and C-15 positions and the hydroxyl groups at the 3, 5, and 10 positions. The closely related FB₂, FB₃, and FB₄ lack hydroxyls at the 10 position, 5 position, or both, respectively.

Fig.1 The chemical structures of fumonisin B₁ and fumonisin B₂. (Sheng, 2012)

In particular, FB₁ is the most abundant of fumonisins and has hepatotoxic, nephrotoxic and cytotoxic effects in mammals. FB₁ is now known to cause severe animal and human diseases, including equine leukoencephalomalacia, porcine pulmonary edema syndrome, liver cancer in rats, even related to human esophageal cancer. For these reasons, FB₁ has been categorized as a class 2B carcinogen, which is possibly carcinogenic to humans by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. In some researches, the anti-FB₁ antibodies may always cross-react with a broad range of the free and modified B-series of fumonisins, such as related FB₂, FB₃, and with cross-reactivities ranging from 38% to 181%. While this could be detrimental for detecting individual fumonisins, this suggests that such cross-reactivity antibodies are particularly desirable as an appropriate tool for class-specific immunoassay since it could detect a wide variety of free or modified fumonisins.

Design and Synthesis of Class-specific Haptens for FB₁

The extensive applications that establish more sensitive, selective, large-scale and rapid analytical immunological methods for the detection of FB₁ have led to high demand for specific antibodies. The critical step is designing the hapten/antigen. FB₁, as one of the small molecules, is usually nonimmunogenic and does not elicit an immune response unless coupled with some carrier molecules such as proteins. Therefore, in order to couple with carriers by using a linker or spacer arm to make a stable FB₁-carrier complex and further to obtain an effective immune response, it is required for the proper design and modification of FB₁.

In order to develop great class-specific immunoassays of FB₁, Creative Biolabs turns to novel approaches based on computer-assisted molecular modeling that is able to provide useful information according to the physical/chemical properties of FB₁ and offer assistance in hapten design and modification.

With over years of extensive experience in providing excellent hapten design services, scientists at Creative Biolabs are confident in offering the most suitable solution and achieve the best outcome for our customers. Please feel free to contact us for more information and a detailed quote.

Reference

1. Sheng, Y.; et al. Development of a sensitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for the detection of fumonisin B₁ in maize. Toxicon. 2012, 60(7): 1245-1250.