Detection of microbial surface antigens that bind Lewis(a) antigen.
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.
Essery
S D
SD
Department of Medical Microbiology, University Medical School, University of Edinburgh, UK.
Weir
D M
DM
James
V S
VS
Blackwell
C C
CC
Saadi
A T
AT
Busuttil
A
A
Tzanakaki
G
G
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
D018829:Adhesins, Bacterial; D000888:Antibodies, Anti-Idiotypic; D007983:Lewis Blood Group Antigens