Immunogenic outer-membrane proteins of Haemophilus influenzae type b in infection.

Outer-membrane proteins (OMPs) from Haemophilus influenzae type b (strain Eagan), grown both in vitro (broth) and in vivo (rat intra-peritoneal), were separated by SDS-PAGE. The major OMPs were present in both growth conditions although the amounts of OMP a and OMP d were reduced in rat-grown organisms. There were strong additional bands in in-vivo-grown organisms at 51 and 92 kDa. Antiserum was raised in rabbits against in-vivo-grown bacteria, and absorbed with lysates of in-vitro-grown bacteria. This serum was used in Western blot analysis of OMPs from in-vitro- and in-vivo-grown cells to identify immunogenic proteins present in infection. These infection-associated OMPs had apparent molecular masses of 43 kDa, 48 kDa, 81 kDa and greater than 200 kDa. Bands of reactivity, of the same molecular mass as some of these, were found on immunoblots when rat and human convalescent sera were used as the source of primary antibody. In particular, a band of 81 kDa was recognized by pooled rat and three human convalescent sera.