title: Analysis of latex agglutination test for Clostridium difficile toxin A (D-1) and differentiation between C difficile toxins A and B and latex reactive protein.
abstract: Virulent toxigenic and avirulent non-toxigenic strains of Clostridium difficile gave a positive result in the latex agglutination test (LAT) for C difficile toxin A (D-1). Similar concentrations of latex agglutinating antigen were produced by these strains in vivo. Positive reactions were also given by C sporogenes, proteolytic C botulinum Types A, B, and A/F, and Bacteroides assaccharolyticus. The latex agglutinating antigen was denatured by boiling for 10 minutes, but not by heating at 56 degrees C for 30 minutes. The reaction was abolished by incubation of test material with crude C difficile antitoxin but not with other clostridial antitoxins or specific antitoxin to C difficile toxin A. The latex agglutinating antigen present in C difficile eluted between 0.39% and 0.47% M sodium chloride, and that produced by the other clostridia, between 0.35% and 0.43% M sodium chloride by fast protein liquid chromatography. The latex agglutinating antigen of C difficile was neither cytotoxic nor mouse lethal and was distinct from toxin A and toxin B. In the analysis of faecal specimens from patients with diarrhoea the latex agglutination test correlated better with the presence of C difficile than with toxin B and detected both toxigenic and non-toxigenic strains. The latex agglutination test should only be used in the laboratory as an alternative to culture for C difficile and not as a method for the detection of C difficile toxins.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D001427:Bacterial Toxins / Q000032:analysis*; D002852:Chromatography, Ion Exchange; D003013:Clostridium / Q000276:immunology*; D006224:Cricetinae; D003603:Cytotoxins / Q000032:analysis*; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000276:immunology; D004768:Enterotoxins / Q000032:analysis*; D005243:Feces / Q000276:immunology; D006358:Hot Temperature; D006801:Humans; D007841:Latex Fixation Tests / Q000379:methods; D051379:Mice; D014774:Virulence
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D001427:Bacterial Toxins; D003603:Cytotoxins; D004768:Enterotoxins; C041348:tcdA protein, Clostridium difficile; C031815:toxB protein, Clostridium difficile