title: Antibody response to crude cell lysate of propionibacterium acnes and induction of pro-inflammatory cytokines in patients with acne and normal healthy subjects.
abstract: Propionibacterium acnes (P. acnes) plays an important role in the disease pathogenesis of acne vulgaris, a disorder of pilosebaceous follicles, seen primarily in the adolescent age group. In the present study, the presence of antibodies against P. acnes (MTCC1951) were detected in acne patient (n=50) and disease free controls (n=25) using dot-ELISA and Western blot assay. The ability of P. acnes to induce pro-inflammatory cytokines by human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), obtained from acne patients and healthy subjects, were also analysed. The patients (n=26) who were culture positive for skin swab culture, were found to have a more advanced disease and higher antibody titres (1:4000 to > 1:16000) compared to the P. acnes negative patients (n=24) and normal controls (n=25). An analysis of patients' sera by western blot assay recognized a number of antigenic components of P. acnes, ranging from 29 to 205 kDa. The major reactive component was an approximately 96 kDa polypeptide, which was recognised in 92% (24 of 26) of the patients sera. Further, the P. acnes culture supernatant, crude cell lysate and heat killed P. acnes whole cells, obtained from 72-h incubation culture, were observed to be able to induce significant amounts of IL-8 and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) by the PBMCs in both the healthy subjects and patients, as analysed by cytokine-ELISA. The levels of cytokines were significantly higher in the patients than the healthy subjects. A major 96 kDa polypeptide reactant was eluted from the gel and was found to cause dose dependent stimulation of the productions of IL-8 and TNF-alpha. Thus, the above results suggest that both humoral and pro-inflammatory responses play major roles in the pathogenesis of acne.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, KGMU, Lucknow, INDIA.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Basal
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jain
authors.forename: G P
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Kaushal
mesh_terms: D000152:Acne Vulgaris / Q000276:immunology* / Q000382:microbiology; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000097:blood; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification; D015153:Blotting, Western; D016207:Cytokines / Q000032:analysis*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016209:Interleukin-8 / Q000032:analysis; D007963:Leukocytes, Mononuclear / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D011425:Propionibacterium acnes / Q000276:immunology* / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D012867:Skin / Q000382:microbiology; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D016207:Cytokines; D016209:Interleukin-8; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha