title: Detection of microbial surface antigens that bind Lewis(a) antigen.
abstract: There is evidence that the Lewis(a) blood group antigen is one of the receptors for a number of potentially pathogenic microorganisms. To determine how widely distributed the microbial adhesins are that bind this antigen, anti-idiotypic antibodies produced against monoclonal anti-Lewis(a) were used in coagglutination assays to screen a variety of species. The following were agglutinated: 7/7 strains of Staphylococcus aureus; 10/19 (53%) strains of Neisseria meningitidis; 8/13 (62%) strains of Haemophilus influenzae; 1/3 strains of Helicobacter pylori; 1/2 strains of Neisseria gonorrhoeae; 1/2 strains of Candida albicans. The application of the anti-idiotypic antibodies to studies of host cell receptors, isolation of adhesins and development of new epidemiological typing reagents is discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Microbiology, University Medical School, University of Edinburgh, UK.
authors.forename: S D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Essery
authors.forename: D M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Weir
authors.forename: V S
authors.initials: VS
authors.lastname: James
authors.forename: C C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Blackwell
authors.forename: A T
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Saadi
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Busuttil
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tzanakaki
mesh_terms: D018829:Adhesins, Bacterial / Q000276:immunology*; D000372:Agglutination Tests; D000818:Animals; D000888:Antibodies, Anti-Idiotypic / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D001666:Binding Sites, Antibody; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D007983:Lewis Blood Group Antigens / Q000276:immunology*; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C
chemical_list: D018829:Adhesins, Bacterial; D000888:Antibodies, Anti-Idiotypic; D007983:Lewis Blood Group Antigens