The Ultimate Decoy: Scripps Research Institute Scientists Find Protein that Helps Bacteria Misdirect Immune System LA JOLLA, CA February 6, 2014 A team led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) has discovered an unusual bacterial protein that attaches to virtually any antibody and prevents it from binding to its target. Protein M, as it is called, probably helps some bacteria evade the immune response and establish long-term infections.
If follow-up studies confirm Protein M's ability to defeat the antibody response, it is likely to become a target of new antibacterial therapies. The protein's unique ability to bind generally to antibodies also should make it a valuable tool for research and drug development.
What Protein M does to antibodies represents a very clever trick of evolution, said Richard A. Lerner, MD, Lita Annenberg Hazen Professor of Immunochemistry and Institute Professor at TSRI who led the research.
The new findings, which were achieved through collaboration among several laboratories at TSRI and elsewhere, are described in the February 7, 2014 issue of the journal Science.
Unexpected Discovery
The unexpected discovery originated from an effort to understand the origin of multiple myeloma, a B-cell carcinoma. Clonal B-cell proliferation, as well as lymphomas and myelomas, can result from chronic infections by organisms such as Escherichia coli (E. coli), Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) and hepatitis C virus.
To better understand this process, the team investigated mycoplasma, a parasite that infects people chronically and is largely confined to the surface of cells. In a search for factors associated with long-term mycoplasma infection, Rajesh Grover, PhD, a senior staff scientist in the Lerner laboratory, tested samples of antibodies from multiple myeloma patients' blood against a variety of mycoplasma species. One of the proteins recognized by the antibodies was from Mycoplasma genitalium, which causes sexually transmitted infections in humans.
To the scientists' surprise, every antibody sample tested showed reactivity to this protein. But further tests made clear that these antibody reactions were not in response to mass infection with M. genitalium. Instead, the scientists found, the mysterious M. genitalium protein appeared to have evolved simply to bind to any antibody it encounters.
That presents a potentially major problem for the immune system. The antibody response is meant to combat invading pathogens with precisely targeted attacks, each selected from an enormous repertoire of hundreds of millions of distinct antibodies. In effect, the system is designed not to bind universally to any one target. If it did, then such a target could act as a universal decoy, potentially nullifying the entire antibody response.
The current research suggested that M. genitalium has evolved such a decoy. It binds to every antibody generically capable of hijacking the entire diversity of antibody repertoire but at the same time it blocks the specific interaction between that antibody and its intended biomolecular target, said Grover.
Protein M'
The team decided to call it Protein M.
To better how understand Protein M works, Xueyong Zhu, PhD, a staff scientist in the laboratory of Ian Wilson, DPhil, Hansen Professor of Structural Biology and chair of the Department of Integrative Structural and Computational Biology at TSRI, and colleagues took a structural biology approach. Using X-ray crystallography and other techniques, including electron microscopy in the TSRI lab of Assistant Professor Andrew Ward, PhD, the team determined the protein's 3D atomic structure while the protein was bound to various human antibodies.
Compared to thousands of known structures in the Protein Data Bank, the worldwide structure database, Protein M appeared to be unique.
The data also revealed that Protein M binds to a small, unchanging conserved region at the outer tip of every antibody's antigen-binding arm. It likely extends the other end of itself, like a tail, over the antibody's main antigen-binding region, Zhu said.
The team is now studying Protein M's function during M. genitalium infections. It seems likely that the oddball protein evolved to help M. genitalium cope with the immune response despite having one of the smallest bacterial genomes in nature. It appears to represent an elegant evolutionary solution to the special problem that mycoplasma have in evading the adaptive immune system, said Grover. The smallest parasitic bacteria on planet earth seems to have evolved the most sophisticated invading molecular machine.
Unusual and Unusually Useful
If Protein M is confirmed as a universal decoy for antibodies, it will become a target for new drugs, which could make it easier to treat chronic, sometimes silent infections by M. genitalium and by any other microbes that have evolved a similar antibody-thwarting defense. Chronic infections can lead to a host of other problems, including inflammatory diseases and cancers.
In principle, Protein M also could be engineered to target specific groups of B cells immune cells that produce antibodies and express them on their surfaces. Thus, Protein M could deliver cell-killing toxins to cancerous B cells but not healthy ones, for example to treat certain lymphomas.
In the era of antibody-based drugs, the most immediate use of Protein M is likely to be as a tool for grabbing antibodies in test tubes and cell cultures, useful for the preparation of highly pure antibody for research and drug manufacturing. Other generic antibody-binding proteins have been put to use in this way, but so far it appears that none does the job quite as well as Protein M. It may be the most useful antibody purification device ever found, said Lerner, who is already in talks with industry to c
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
07/08/2025
July 8 2025, 22:30 (PDT) Tata Motors & Dolby Bring Dolby Atmos to Harrier.ev, R...
17/07/2025
Early Thursday morning, the U.S. Senate voted to cut federal funding for PBS and NPR in a bill that also included cuts for foreign aid. In a 51-48 vote, the act...
17/07/2025
GREAT Britain and Northern Ireland Pavilions across IBC2025 (12 15 September, RAI Amsterdam) feature a remarkable 34 companies, each providing unique, innovativ...
17/07/2025
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers today introduced its Content Provenance and Authenticity (CPA) in Media Study Group (S...
17/07/2025
NEW YORK Despite widespread concerns about a soft advertising market, NBCUniversal said it closed its 2025-26 upfront negotiation cycle with a record ad sales v...
17/07/2025
NEW YORK Television advertising remains an effective means to market and influence younger baby boomer and Generation X consumers approaching retirement age, ac...
17/07/2025
ALLENTOWN, Pa. & JERSEY CITY, N.J. Service Electric Cable TV and OpenVault have announced that the operator is deploying the OpenVault Proactive Network Manage...
17/07/2025
WASHINGTON Following up on his first major policy speech just two ago, Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr is promising to buck the usual summ...
17/07/2025
Luxembourg, 14 July 2025 - SES received the final regulatory approvals for the SES-Intelsat transaction, including the US Federal Communications Commission.
O...
17/07/2025
Berklee Alumni Nominated for 2025 Emmy Awards Twenty-three Berklee alumni received nominations across categories in sound mixing, sound editing, and compositi...
16/07/2025
It's Emmy nominations day, and Sundance Institute storytellers are basking i...
16/07/2025
Spotify's podcast editorial team is always on the hunt for shows and episodes that spark conversation, push boundaries, and keep us coming back for more. As...
16/07/2025
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({...
16/07/2025
Join us at IBC this September and take control of your content. Discover how we're bringing a new level of purpose and precision to the application of AI in...
16/07/2025
Warsaw - Poland, June 24, 2025 - Nielsen, the global leader in audience measurement, data and analytics, has released its latest May All Screens Video Landscape...
16/07/2025
Bluey Tops Nielsen's Overall Streaming List with More Than 25 Billion Minutes Streamed from January through June 2025
Big June Vaults Squid Game into Top O...
16/07/2025
TV SIM, the SBT affiliate serving Esp rito Santo state in Brazil, has launched a transmitter upgrade initiative with the installation of a Rohde & Schwarz R&S T...
16/07/2025
Pebble, the leading automation, content management and integrated channel specialist, is turning its vision to the future of automation with its demonstrations ...
16/07/2025
Ikegami announces a new addition to its UNICAM-XE product range with the introduction of the UHK-X700RF wireless portable camera: The new version has the same f...
16/07/2025
Today, Amazon Web Services added TwelveLabs as a new model provider to Amazon Bedrock, delivering what could be the most significant breakthrough in enterprise ...
16/07/2025
NEW YORK Streaming platforms continued to dominate TV viewing patterns in June, with data from Nielsen's 50th monthly report of The Gauge showing that strea...
16/07/2025
MAHWAH, NJ Ikegami has introduced the the UHK-X700RF wireless portable camera, a new addition to its UNICAM-XE product range with the same feature set, operatio...
16/07/2025
LONDON IBC2025 organizers said global attendees will have access to a new feature that will integrate Amsterdam's GVB public transport pass into the officia...
16/07/2025
July 16th, 2025
Tribeca Films to Release the Acclaimed LARPing Doc WE CAN BE HEROES by Carina Mia Wong and Alex Simmons, Alongside a Slate of Festival-Favori...
16/07/2025
Deltatre Acquires Endeavor Streaming in Major Streaming Industry Move The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2025 By Brandon Costa, Direc...
16/07/2025
SVG Regional Sports Production Summit 2025: All Sessions Now Available to Watch ...
16/07/2025
Wednesday 16 July 2025
Sky and ITV today announced an extension of their long-standing partnership, which will see ITV's content and services remain seamle...
16/07/2025
Sky Sports lifts the lid on Lions life with hilarious behind-the-scenes mockumentaryWednesday 16 July 2025
To view this content, please enable our use of cooki...
16/07/2025
CULVER CITY, CALIFORNIA Apple TV+ today earned a record-breaking 81 Emmy Award nominations across 14 hit Apple Original titles for this year's 77th Emmy Awa...
15/07/2025
Independent media outlets in Brazil and Colombia are invited to apply for a new programme aimed at strengthening the long-term resilience of journalism in the f...
15/07/2025
By Lucy Spicer
One of the most exciting things about the Sundance Film Festival...
15/07/2025
Spotify une fuerzas con DiDi, la app l der en servicios de movilidad, delivery y...
15/07/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
15/07/2025
L3Harris put its CORVUS-RAVEN counter-small UAS capability into the hands of soldiers at VANAHEIM, showcasing its ability to provide passive signal detect, enha...
15/07/2025
Netflix Viewing Up 13.5% vs. May, Represents 42% of Monthly Gain for Streaming
...
15/07/2025
SAN FRANCISCO and BENGALARU, India Sangeeta Chakraborty has been named chief revenue officer at Amagi, a cloud-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) technology pro...
15/07/2025
As part of its mandate, the Advanced Television Systems Committee the U.S. organization tasked with developing advanced broadcast TV standards promotes ATSC 3.0...
15/07/2025
QuickLink, the leading global provider of multi-camera video productions and remote contributions, announces the launch of two innovative control panels Studi...
15/07/2025
Chris Kontopanos has joined leading high-quality microphone solutions manufacturer, DPA Microphones, as the company's new Regional Sales Manager for the Mid...
15/07/2025
Magnifi by VideoVerse, a global leader in AI-powered video automation, has launched a major platform upgrade built to simplify live and archival video editing f...
15/07/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will preview its latest innovations at IBC2025, Stand 7.B21. This year's showcase highlights how...
15/07/2025
IBC2025 is set to transform the onsite experience for its global attendees with the launch of a pioneering new feature: full integration of Amsterdam's GVB ...
15/07/2025
Music, sport and technology collided in spectacular fashion as ASB GlassFloor powered the debut of Beats N Buckets, Germany's first Basketball meets Hip-Ho...
15/07/2025
The Collectv, the Emmy award-winning broadcast solutions and workflows consultancy - and winner of Broadcast Tech's Team of the Year is delighted to announc...
15/07/2025
SipRadius, the expert in secure, low latency media transport, will showcase how broadcasters and media companies can take control of fragmented IP workflows at ...
15/07/2025
Appear, the global leader in live production technology, today announced its strategic partnership with beIN ASIA PACIFIC, a leading multi-platform sports media...
15/07/2025
Company marks 15 years of innovation at the show
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and monetization at scale, will return to IBC (Hall 1, Stand F83. RAI, Amster...
The Ultimate Decoy: Scripps Research Institute Scientists Find Protein that Helps Bacteria Misdirect Immune System LA JOLLA, CA February 6, 2014 A team led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) has discovered an unusual bacterial protein that attaches to virtually any antibody and prevents it from binding to its target. Protein M, as it is called, probably helps some bacteria evade the immune response and establish long-term infections.
