A monoclonal antibody collection forC. difficiletyping

Abstract

ABSTRACTClostridioides difficileis the leading cause of antibiotic-associated diarrhea and pseudomembranous colitis in adults. VariousC. difficilestrains circulate currently, associated with different outcomes and antibiotic resistance profiles. However, most studies still focus on the reference strain 630 that does not circulate anymore, partly due to the lack of immunological tools to study current clinically importantC. difficilePCR ribotypes. Herein, we immunized mice expressing human variable antibody genes with the Low Molecular Weight (LMW) subunit of the surface layer protein SlpA from variousC. difficilestrains. Monoclonal antibodies purified from hybridomas bound LMW with high-affinity and whole bacteria from currentC. difficileribotypes with different cross-specificities. This first collection of anti-C. difficilemAbs represent valuable tools for basic and clinical research.