Immunological markers of the R4 protein of Streptococcus agalactiae

This study focuses on immunological markers of R4, an important Streptococcus group B (GBS) protein. The results obtained by using rabbit antisera and purified proteins for antigens in enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay-based experiments provided evidence that R4 possesses two antigenic determinants. One of the determinants is shared with the alpha-like protein 3 (Alp3) of GBS, was named R4/Alp3 common, and was expressed by GBS, which possessed the Alp3-encoding gene alp3 or the R4-encoding gene rib. The other antigenic determinant was detected only in rib-positive GBS organisms and was named R4 specific. This determinant probably is an immunological marker unique to the R4 protein. Neither of the antigenic R4 determinants showed serological cross-reactivity with the GBS proteins Calpha, Cbeta, and R3 or with alpha-like protein 2. Of 60 clinical serotype III GBS strains, 56 (93%) isolates possessed the rib gene and 50 (89%) of the rib-positive isolates expressed levels of R4 detectable by antibody-based tests, consistent with R4 expression failure or low-level expression in approximately 10% of rib-positive GBS. alp3 was not detected in type III GBS but was possessed by six of eight type V strains and six of six type VIII strains. All alp3-positive strains were recognized by the R4/Alp3 common antibodies, but none of them were recognized by the R4-specific antibodies. NCTC 9828, a reference strain for R3 and R4, expressed the determinant R4/Alp3 common but not R4 specific. A monoclonal R4 antibody, previously considered to be R4 specific and used in GBS serotyping, targeted R4/Alp3 common and is thus not R4 specific. The results show that failure to discriminate between R4 specific and R4/Alp3 common by antisera designed for GBS serotyping can result in the false identification of Alp3 as R4 or vice versa, whereas anti-R4 antibodies targeting only the determinant R4 specific will detect only R4. Both R4 and Alp3 need further evaluation with respect to the immunobiological function of each distinct antigenic determinant, for instance, with regard to their potential as GBS vaccine components.