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Clinical and Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology, 01 1997, 49-56, Vol 4, No. 1
S Laal, KM Samanich, MG Sonnenberg, S Zolla-Pazner, JM Phadtare and JT Belisle
The selection of antigens of Mycobacterium tuberculosis for most studies of
humoral responses in tuberculosis patients has been restricted to molecules
that were either immunodominant in immunized animals or amenable to
biochemical purification rather than those that were reactive with the
human immune system. Delineation of antigens that elicit humoral responses
during the natural course of disease progression in humans has been
hindered by the presence of cross- reactive antibodies to conserved regions
on ubiquitous prokaryotic antigens in sera from healthy individuals and
tuberculosis patients. The levels of cross-reactive antibodies in the sera
were reduced by preadsorption with Escherichia coli lysates, prior to
studying their reactivity against a large panel of M. tuberculosis antigens
to which the human immune system may be exposed during natural infection
and disease. Thus, reactivity against pools of secreted, cellular, and cell
wall-associated antigens of M. tuberculosis was assessed by an enzyme-
linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Initial results suggested that the
secreted protein preparation contained antigens most frequently recognized
by the humoral responses of pulmonary tuberculosis patients. The culture
filtrate proteins were subsequently size fractionated by preparative
polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, characterized by reaction with murine
monoclonal antibodies to known antigens of M. tuberculosis by an ELISA, and
assessed for reactivity with tuberculous and nontuberculous sera. Results
show that a secreted antigen of 88 kDa elicits a strong antibody response
in a high percentage of patients with pulmonary tuberculosis. This and
other antigens identified on the basis of their reactivity with patient
sera may prove useful for developing serodiagnosis for tuberculosis.
Copyright © 1997 by the American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Human humoral responses to antigens of Mycobacterium tuberculosis: immunodominance of high-molecular-mass antigens
Department of Pathology, New York University Medical Center, New York 10016, USA.
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