Rapid identification of Shigella sonnei by the use of specific monoclonal antibody based dot ELISA

Development of a simple system for the rapid and specific detection of pathogenic strains of Shigella sonnei is of great importance as outbreaks associated with Shigella sonnei have been reported frequently. In the present study, monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) were raised against outer membrane protein of Shigella sonnei. A set of three stabilized hybridoma cell lines were generated. MAb Ss 33 exhibited specific reaction to the whole cells of Shigella sonnei strains. The other two MAbs, Ss 2 and Ss 4 had cross reactions with other organisms. The MAb Ss 33 did not show any cross-reaction with whole cell lysate of Salmonella typhimurium, Escherichia coli and other species of Enterobacteriaceae in plate ELISA and Western blot analysis. MAb Ss 33 was further used in the development of a simple dot ELISA system for the specific detection of S. sonnei. The presence of S. sonnei recovered from clinical, and diverse samples were evaluated by this dot ELISA and results were compared with the conventional biochemical, serological methods and also by in-house developed PCR. Data suggests this newly developed dot ELISA method have the potential for their use in reliable, rapid detection of Shigella sonnei at a relatively low cost.