Production of Monoclonal Antibody against Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Development of Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay

Escherichia coli O157:H7 causes hemolytic uremic syndrome and hemorrhagic colitis in humans. The objectives of this study were to produce monoclonal antibody(MAb) against E. coli O157:H7 and to develop an enzyme linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA) for the rapid detection of E. coli O157:H7 in agri-stockbreeding. The characterization of MAb produced from hybridoma cell (HKEC 4G8-5) was validated by ELISA and Western blot. The produced MAb was specific to E. coli O157:H7 and showed weak cross-reaction to Staphylococcus aureus. The detection limit of ELISA based on 4G8-5 MAb was . Although the ELISA could not detect E. coli O157:H7 in the meat and sprout samples inoculated with /10 g without enrichment, the same samples after enrichment for 6 hr were confirmed to be positive by ELISA. These results indicated that the ELISA combined with short enrichment (6 hr) is useful tool for rapid screening of E. coli O157:H7 in various samples.