Immunoassays to detect the serum antibody response of cattle to infection with Salmonella Typhimurium definitive type 104 and following vaccination with Bovivac S

Detection of antibodies to Pseudomonas aeruginosa in serum and oral fluid from patients with cystic fibrosis

Cystic fibrosis (CF) patients who are chronically infected withPseudomonas aeruginosamake serum antibodies to bacterial surface LPS as well as other pseudomonas antigens. This study investigated the feasibility of using oral fluid samples for the detection of pseudomonas antibodies in CF patients and compared these results with corresponding serum antibodies. Most strains ofP. aeruginosaproduce two forms of LPS molecule, termed A-band (described as a common antigen) and B-band (O-serotype-specific antigen), apparently bound to a common core oligosaccharide moiety. A-band LPS was demonstrated in 45 out of 49 clinical isolates ofP. aeruginosaby SDS-PAGE and immunoblotting with a specific antibody. Oral fluids were collected from 17 adult CF patients, all of whom were sputum culture positive forP. aeruginosa(13 also provided serum samples), 11 primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD) patients and 37 healthy volunteers. Antibodies to A-band LPS were detected by immunoblotting in all of the CF patients’ oral fluids but 10 of the volunteer samples gave weak reactions with immunoblotting. Six of the PCD patients gave a weak reaction with A-band antibodies and only one demonstrated antibodies to core LPS. In a quantitative ELISA, 15 of the 17 CF patients’ oral fluids were shown to contain antibodies to A-band LPS, whilst none of the volunteer samples contained antibodies to A-band LPS. All serum samples from the CF patients were positive by both methods. Thus this is a sensitive procedure for the detection of antibodies to A-band LPS ofP. aeruginosain oral fluid and serum from patients with CF.

Rapid decay of Salmonella flagella antibodies during human gastroenteritis: a follow up study

An indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) based on Salmonella re-polymerized flagella was employed to measure levels of immunoglobulin (Ig) G, IgM and IgA antibodies in sera from 303 Danish patients diagnosed with either Salmonella enteritidis or Salmonella typhimurium. The antibody-levels were assessed at one, three and six months after onset of salmonellosis, and sera from a control-group of 170 healthy blood donors were additionally analysed in order to establish cut-off values for the analysis. Cross-reactions to other Salmonella serotypes, as well as to Escherichia coli, Yersinia enterocolitica, Campylobacter jejuni, Campylobacter coli and Helicobacter pylori were observed. At one month after onset of symptoms, 70% of the patients recovering from a S. enteritidis infection carried detectable levels of anti-flagella antibodies, as did 77% of the patients recovering from S. typhimurium infection. Three months after onset of symptoms these detection rates had decreased to 46% and 40%; and six months after onset of symptoms the detection rates were 34% and 38%. This rapid decrease in the serum levels of flagella antibodies is in conflict with the "common knowledge" statement of a long-lasting anti-flagella immunoresponse. The present study suggests that such a tenacious statement is (or may be) inaccurate.