title: Antibody activity against lipopolysaccharides, lipid A and proteins from Enterobacteriaceae in patients with chronic inflammatory liver diseases.
abstract: These studies are concerned with detection of circulating antibodies against various defined enterobacterial antigens in patients with chronic inflammatory liver diseases such as chronic hepatitis type B (n = 46), chronic active hepatitis (CAH) of autoimmune type (n = 10), alcoholic cirrhosis (n = 24) and primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) (n = 24) as well as in healthy individuals (n = 39). Anti-LPS and anti-lipid A were determined by hemolytic and hemagglutination assay. Immunoblot technique was used to investigate the antibody activity against plasmid encoded proteins from Yersinia enterocolitica. Persistent titers of anti-LPS up to serum dilution 1:32.768 were found with hemolytic and hemagglutination assay in patients with alcoholic cirrhosis or PBC and in healthy control. In contrast nearly 50% of patients with chronic hepatitis B had no hemolytic antibodies against the two LPS E. coli serotypes at the time of liver biopsy. Anti-lipid A was detectable in 58% of patients with alcoholic cirrhosis but in low titers in less than 10% in the other groups (p less than 0.001). Alcoholic cirrhosis was also associated with a high frequency of IgG and IgA antibodies against plasmid encoded proteins from Yersinia enterocolitica. The data indicate that the O-polysaccharides as strong antigens are physiologically exposed to the immune system while lipid A and enterobacterial proteins are solely immunogenic under abnormal conditions.
authors.affiliation: Universitätsklinikum Rudolf Virchow, Standort Charlottenburg, Freie Universität Berlin, FRG.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Stemerowicz
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Möller
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Heesemann
authors.forename: B E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Wenzel
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Galanos
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Freudenberg
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Hopf
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis*; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000032:analysis; D005260:Female; D006519:Hepatitis, Alcoholic / Q000276:immunology*; D006521:Hepatitis, Chronic / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007070:Immunoglobulin A / Q000032:analysis; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000032:analysis; D008050:Lipid A / Q000276:immunology; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides / Q000276:immunology*; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000276:immunology; D008104:Liver Cirrhosis, Alcoholic / Q000276:immunology; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015008:Yersinia enterocolitica / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial; D001323:Autoantibodies; D007070:Immunoglobulin A; D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D008050:Lipid A; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides