Catalytic antibodies generated via heterologous immunization

The mechanism of a selected reaction constitutes a basis for the rational design of haptens which induce catalytic antibodies. Our recent studies on esterolytic antibodies suggested that efficient catalysis could be achieved with the aid of both acidic and basic amino acid residues appropriately disposed in the combining site of an antibody, and that these residues would be induced to a zwitterionic hapten. Normally, however, this type of hapten synthesis is not a simple task, and it was thought that a heterologous immunization strategy (vide infra) might serve as an alternative to the use of a zwitterionic hapten for the generation of catalytic antibodies. We describe herein the outcome of this strategy, as compared with that of the standard homologous immunization.