Identification of a 2-Md plasmid from Shigella flexneri associated with reactive arthritis.
The development of reactive arthritis, a sterile inflammatory polyarthropathy that primarily affects HLA-B27 positive individuals, has been associated with previous enteric infections caused by various gram-negative bacteria. The possibility that a common bacterial epitope triggers the disease was investigated by screening a panel of documented arthritogenic Shigella strains as well as 2 epidemic-associated nonarthritogenic Shigella controls. A 2-Md plasmid specific to the arthritogenic strains was identified and sequenced. The plasmid encodes a number of small peptides that could be related to the development of reactive arthritis. Within 1 of these is a stretch of 5 consecutive amino acids, inferred from the DNA sequence and contained within an open reading frame, that is homologous to amino acid residues 71-75 of the polymorphic region of the alpha 1 domain of HLA-B27. The data indicate that there is a bacterial plasmid common to arthritogenic Shigella strains that may play a role in triggering reactive arthritis. The finding that this plasmid encodes an epitope shared with HLA-B27 suggests that molecular mimicry may play a role in the induction of this disease.
Stieglitz
H
H
Department of Internal Medicine, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas 75235.
Fosmire
S
S
Lipsky
P
P
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001170:Arthritis, Infectious / Q000209:etiology* / Q000276:immunology / Q000382:microbiology; D001483:Base Sequence; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D000939:Epitopes / Q000235:genetics; D015235:HLA-B Antigens / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D015796:HLA-B27 Antigen; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009693:Nucleic Acid Hybridization; D010957:Plasmids; D012475:Salmonella / Q000235:genetics; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D012763:Shigella flexneri / Q000235:genetics*
D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D000939:Epitopes; D015235:HLA-B Antigens; D015796:HLA-B27 Antigen