Correlation between adhesion of Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteria to cell surfaces and the presence of some factors related to virulence.

Recent isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains and 12-month-old subcultivated variants of the same strains have been assayed for adhesiveness to HEp-2 cells. P. aeruginosa adhesion factors were located both to the bacterial surface and extracellularly. Generally, loss of adhesiveness upon subcultivation could be restituted by adding extracellular factor from the recent isolate. While the extracellular adhesins were neutralized by non-specific serum factors, the surface-bound adhesins of a recent isolate were blocked by antibodies only.