ABSTRACT
We have studied the effect of serum from infants with diarrhea and of cord serum on the localized adherence of enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) to HeLa cells. Serum samples from 16 infants with diarrhea due to EPEC of serotypes O55:H6, O111: H-, O111:H2, O119:H6 and O142:H6 were used. The adherence ability of EPEC strains belonging to serotypes identical to (homologous) or different from (heterologous) those isolated from the infants' feces was highly inhibited by samples of infant serum collected both during the acute phase of the illness and upon discharge from the hospital. These data confirm the development of antibodies against EPEC adhesins and the cross-reaction between different EPEC serotypes. Cord serum inhibited the localized adherence of EPEC strains at different levels according to the serotype of the strain studied. These results suggest that the placental transfer of adhesin-related antibodies does not protect the newborn against EPEC infections, since half of our patients were less than 30 days old
Subject(s)
Humans , Bacterial Adhesion/physiology , Blood Bactericidal Activity/physiology , HeLa Cells/physiology , Diarrhea, Infantile/blood , Escherichia coli/physiology , Fetal Blood/immunology , Diarrhea, Infantile/etiology , Escherichia coli/classification , Escherichia coli/pathogenicity , Escherichia coli Infections/complications , Escherichia coli Infections/immunology , SerotypingABSTRACT
We have studied the effect of immune rabbit sera on the localized (LA) and diffuse (DA) adherence to Hela cells of 10 enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) strains belonging to serogroups 055, 086, 0111, 0119, and 0142. Anti-La1 serum, obtained by rabbit immunization with an E. coli strain harboring a cloned DNA fragment from an EPEC LA plasmid, strongly inhibited the adherence of all serogroups but one (0142). Similar results were obtained with anti-LA2 serum, which is anti-0111 serum absorbed with a non-adherence 0111:H-EPEC strain. In contrast, non-absorbed anti-055 and anti-0111 sera showed an inhibitory effect mainly on the adherence of homologous strains. Except for one experiment diffuse adherence was not inhibited by any antiserum used. The inhibitory effect of immune sera on localized adhere3nce does not seem to be correlated with plasmid curing sinceadherence plasmid pMS49 proved to be stable a after treatment with anti-055 and anti-0111 sera. The cross-inhibition of adherence by anti-LA sera suggests that localized adherence-related adhesions of the 0.55, 0.86, 0111, and 0119 strains share similar antigens