Clinical and Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology, 11 1994, 626-632, Vol 1, No. 6
Copyright © 1994 by the American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Human antibody response to the B oligomer of pertussis toxin

F Lynn, WN Burnette, GR Siber and JL Arciniega
Division of Bacterial Products, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, Food and Drug Administration, Rockville, Maryland 20852-1448, USA.

To determine whether antibodies to the B oligomer of pertussis toxin (PT) were present in patients diagnosed with pertussis or vaccinees who had received diphtheria-tetanus-whole-cell pertussis vaccine, we analyzed serum samples from 5 patients and 10 vaccinees by both enzyme- linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and Western immunoblotting techniques. Antibodies to the B oligomer were detected by ELISA in all samples containing antibodies to holotoxin. Western immunoblotting procedures were less efficient than ELISA techniques for detecting antibodies to the B oligomer. Antibodies which inhibit the ability of the B oligomer to agglutinate erythrocytes were detected in purified human immunoglobulin preparations. In addition, serum samples containing antibodies to PT inhibited the binding of purified B oligomer and holotoxin to a 165-kDa glycoprotein which has been considered a potential PT receptor in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells. These results suggest that antibodies to the B oligomer contribute to the human serologic response to PT, but their detection and characterization require appropriate methods.