Modification by sialic acid of Neisseria gonorrhoeae lipooligosaccharide epitope expression in human urethral exudates: an immunoelectron microscopic analysis.

Expression of lipooligosaccharide (LOS) antigenic determinants during human gonococcal infection was studied in secretions from seven men with gonococcal urethritis. Five monoclonal antibodies with distinct gonococcal LOS specificities and an H.8 lipoprotein monoclonal antibody were used in combination with immunogold electron microscopic analysis. The LOS epitope defined by antibody 6B7 was present on all seven strains in secretions and after in vitro growth. Gonococci from six of seven patients, when grown in vitro, expressed the 6B4 LOS epitope. The 6B4 epitope is a Gal beta 1-4-GlcNAc residue, which is immunochemically similar to the precursor of the human erythrocyte i antigen. This epitope was found unmodified on gonococcal LOS in urethral secretions from two patients. The unmodified epitope could not be demonstrated on organisms in five secretions. Neuraminidase digestion exposed the 6B4 epitope on organisms in these secretions and increased the 6B4 epitope density in the two secretions, which contained the unmodified epitope. These studies indicate that in vivo modification by sialylation of gonococcal LOS Gal beta 1-4-GlcNAc residue occurs during human infection.