This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Reprints and Permissions Copyright Information Books from ASM Press MicrobeWorld Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Fairchok, M. P. Articles by Morris, S. L. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Fairchok, M. P. Articles by Morris, S. L.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Clinical and Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology, 07 1995, 443-447, Vol 2, No. 4
Copyright © 1995 by the American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Age-dependent humoral responses of children to mycobacterial antigens

MP Fairchok, JH Rouse and SL Morris
Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington, D.C. 20307-5000, USA.

In the United States, disseminated infection with environmental mycobacteria, including the Mycobacterium avium complex, is the most common opportunistic bacterial infection seen in AIDS patients. However, the source and relative degree of exposure to environmental mycobacteria during childhood are unknown. To examine the age-related exposure to mycobacteria, we obtained serum samples from 150 children ranging in age from 6 months to 18 years. Each sample was tested against both M. avium (serovar 1) sonic extracts and mycobacterial lipoarabinomannan, using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). All serum samples were also subjected to immunoblot analysis with the sonic extract antigen. These studies established that elevated ELISA values (P < 0.0001) and increased immunoblot reactivity (P < 0.0001) against mycobacterial antigens were both associated with increasing age. The seroreactivity differences were most striking when comparing the age groups of children below the age of 6 with the older age groups. Our results suggest that the development of humoral immune responses to mycobacterial antigens in children correlates with increasing age and that there may be an environmental factor predisposing to mycobacterial exposure which is related to advancing age.

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Navoa, J. A. D., Laal, S., Pirofski, L.-A., McLean, G. R., Dai, Z., Robbins, J. B., Schneerson, R., Casadevall, A., Glatman-Freedman, A. (2003). Specificity and Diversity of Antibodies to Mycobacterium tuberculosis Arabinomannan. CVI 10: 88-94 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• von Reyn, C. F., Williams, P. L., Lederman, H. M., McCutchan, J. A., Koletar, S. L., Murphy, R. L., Cohn, S. E., Evans, T., Heald, A. E., Colquhoun, D., Bassily, E. L., Currier, J. S. (2001). Skin Test Reactivity and Cellular Immune Responses to Mycobacterium avium Sensitin in AIDS Patients at Risk for Disseminated M. avium Infection. CVI 8: 1277-1278 [Abstract] [Full Text]