Ferrieri P
Department of Laboratory Medicine/Pathology, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis 55455.
Rev Infect Dis. 1988 Jul-Aug;10 Suppl 2:S363-6. doi: 10.1093/cid/10.supplement_2.s363.
There are three major surface-localized protein antigens of group B streptococci: c, R, and X. Their precise role in human immunity to group B streptococci has not been defined. Studies of the c protein suggested that type II strains possessing both trypsin-resistant and trypsin-sensitive components of the c protein were less easily killed in vitro and were more virulent in an infant rat model of infection as compared with type II strains that do not bear these proteins. The c protein components were immunogenic in mice and rabbits. Polyclonal rabbit antisera were protective in the infant rat model of bacteremia/sepsis and facilitated killing of type II strains bearing the c protein in an in vitro opsonophagocytic bacterial killing assay. The role of the IgA-binding capacity of the c protein in altering the interaction of group B streptococcal strains with host defenses remains undefined at this time.
B族链球菌有三种主要的表面定位蛋白抗原：c、R和X。它们在人类对B族链球菌免疫中的精确作用尚未明确。对c蛋白的研究表明，与不携带这些蛋白的II型菌株相比，同时具有c蛋白的胰蛋白酶抗性和胰蛋白酶敏感性成分的II型菌株在体外更不易被杀死，并且在婴儿大鼠感染模型中更具毒性。c蛋白成分在小鼠和兔子中具有免疫原性。多克隆兔抗血清在婴儿大鼠菌血症/败血症模型中具有保护作用，并在体外调理吞噬细菌杀伤试验中促进了对携带c蛋白的II型菌株的杀伤。目前，c蛋白的IgA结合能力在改变B族链球菌菌株与宿主防御相互作用中的作用仍不明确。
