Serological analysis of serogroup icterohaemorrhagiae using monoclonal antibodies

Eighteen serovars (19 strains) of serogroup Icterohaemorrhagiae were serologically analyzed using 18 monoclonal antibodies against serovar copenhageni Shiromizu, M20 and serovar icterohaemorrhagiae RGA strains. The reaction patterns of the serovars against these monoclonal antibodies were different. According to these results, we divided the serovars, except for serovar tonkini, into the following three subgroups: Subgroup 1 reacted to many monoclonal antibodies including serovars icterohaemorrhagiae, copenhageni, hualien, monymusk, mankarso, and budapest. Subgroup 2 fell between subgroups 1 and 3 including serovars dakota, naam, bogvere, birkini, smithi, ndambari, gem, ndahambukuje and mwogolo. Subgroup 3 reacted to only a few monoclonal antibodies: serovars weaveri and sarmin. Serovar tonkini did not react to any of the monoclonal antibodies used. There is a possibility that serovar tonkini does not belong to serogroup Icterohaemorrhagiae. Further studies on the serological reactions of each strain revealed that it was impossible to distinguish the RGA strain from the serovar hualien LT11-31 strain, indicating that they may be identical. It was also observed that serovar copenhageni and monymusk seemed to be closely related. Serovars birkini and smithi, and serovars ndambari and gem were alike in their serological reactivities. Among the 18 monoclonal antibodies, RGAMA-1 was a unique antibody which reacted only to serovar icterohaemorrhagiae and serovar hualien, indicating that it must be the serovar icterohaemorrhagiae specific antibody. On the other hand, SHIRMA-2, 5, 6 reacted to all the serovars except for serovars weaveri, sarmin, and tonkini. These antibodies exhibited a broad reaction spectrum.