Detection of microbial surface antigens that bind Lewisa antigen

Abstract

There is evidence that the Lewisa 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-Lewisa 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. © 1994.