Development and characterization of monoclonal antibodies for rapid detection of Acinetobacter baumannii

Recently Acinetobacter baumannii has emerged as a dominant form of nosocomial infections worldwide. As such, diagnostic tools are urgently needed. Reported here is the development/characterization of two mouse monoclonal antibodies (MAbs), F241G3sc2 and F241G6sc2, against A. baumannii ATCC 19606 with clinical strain cross-reactivity. Specifically, both MAbs cross-reacted with 33% of tested A. baumannii clinical strains, without cross-reactivity against other tested species of Acinetobacter. However, further testing with additional clinical strains and species is needed. Taken together, these results demonstrate both antibodies specifically target A. baumannii. With lower limits of detection at 0.32 ng/μL, both MAbs proved highly sensitive. Co-immunoprecipitation assays/LC-MS/MS, dot blots, and ELISAs eliminated the most abundant surface protein, outer membrane protein A (OmpA), as a protein target. However, since most of the proteins within the A. baumannii proteome are uncharacterized, exact protein targets could not be confirmed. Overall, these MAbs demonstrate practical applications, including ELISA, Western blot analysis, and co-IP assays, suitable to address the urgency for rapid detection tools required for A. baumannii research.