SPECIFIC ANTIBODIES TO HUMAN AND ANIMAL POLYOMA VIRUS TUMOR

BK VIRUS (BKV), A PAPOVAVIRUS THAT IS HIGHLY PREVALENT IN THE HUMAN POPULATION, IS RELATED TO AND SHARES SOME ANTIGENIC AND BIOCHEMICAL PROPERTIES WITH THE BETTER- CHARACTERIZED SIMIAN VIRUS SV40. INFECTION WITH BKV LEADS TO THE PRODUCTION OF TUMOR OR T-ANTIGENS, WHICH, IN THE CASEOF SV40, HAVE BEEN SHOWN TO PLAY A CENTRAL ROLE IN THE ONCOGENICITY OF THE VIRUS. WHILE THE ABILITY OF BKV TO INFECT HUMAN CELLS, TRANSFORM A VARIETY OF CELLS IN CULTURE,AND INDUCE TUMORS IN HAMSTERS IS WELL DOCUMENTED, THE MOLECULAR BASIS OF THESE ACTIVITIES REMAINS POORLY UNDERSTOOD. MORE IMPORTANTLY, IT IS NOT ESTABLISHED WHETHERBKV IS INVOLVED DIRECTLY IN HUMAN NEOPLASIA. IN THIS PROJECT, RESEARCHERS AIM TO GENERATE A SERIES OF POLYCLONAL AND MONOCLONAL ANTIBODIES SPECIFIC TO BOTH THE BKV LARGE-T AND SMALL-T ANTIGENS. INTEGRATED GENETICS WILL ACHIEVE SPECIFICITY BY RAISING ANTIBODIES TO PEPTIDES CORRESPONDING TO THE UNIQUE CARBOXYTERMINAL PORTIONS OF THE PROTEINS. BY RAISING MONOCLONAL ANTIBODIES, ANTIBODIES OF HIGH AFFINITY CAN BE SELECTED. THE ANTIBODIES WILL BE USED TO STUDY THE BIOCHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL PROPERTIES OF THE BKV T-ANTIGENS AND THEIR POSSIBLE ROLE IN HUMAN NEOPLASIA.