Fontán P A, Pancholi V, Nociari M M, Fischetti V A
Laboratory of Bacterial Pathogenesis and Immunology, Rockefeller University, New York, New York 10021, USA.
J Infect Dis. 2000 Dec;182(6):1712-21. doi: 10.1086/317604. Epub 2000 Nov 8.
The pathogenic mechanisms for developing acute rheumatic fever after group A streptococcal pharyngitis are still poorly understood. The glycolytic enzyme enolase is one of the major proteins on the surface of group A streptococci. Herein, significant cross-reactivity was shown between streptococcal enolase and human enolase. Fluorocytometric analysis revealed that antistreptococcal enolase antibodies react with the enolase expressed on the surface of hematopoietic cells. Furthermore, the enolase on the leukocyte surface was found to be up-regulated by inflammatory stimuli. Evaluation of antibody titers indicated that serum samples from patients with acute rheumatic fever have higher levels of antibodies that react with the human and bacterial enolases than do serum samples from patients with streptococcal pharyngitis or healthy control subjects. These results show that streptococcal enolase is a novel cross-reactive antigen that may play an important role in the initiation of the autoimmune diseases related to streptococcal infection.
A组链球菌性咽炎后发生急性风湿热的致病机制仍知之甚少。糖酵解酶烯醇化酶是A组链球菌表面的主要蛋白之一。在此，链球菌烯醇化酶与人烯醇化酶之间表现出显著的交叉反应性。荧光细胞分析显示，抗链球菌烯醇化酶抗体与造血细胞表面表达的烯醇化酶发生反应。此外，发现炎症刺激可上调白细胞表面的烯醇化酶。抗体滴度评估表明，急性风湿热患者的血清样本中，与人和细菌烯醇化酶发生反应的抗体水平高于链球菌性咽炎患者或健康对照者的血清样本。这些结果表明，链球菌烯醇化酶是一种新型的交叉反应性抗原，可能在与链球菌感染相关的自身免疫性疾病的发病中起重要作用。
