Kenny G E, Cartwright F D
Isr J Med Sci. 1984 Oct;20(10):908-11.
Determination of the nature of antigens towards which specific antibodies are directed has caused great difficulties in studies of the antigenic structure of the Mycoplasmatales. In immunoblotting, polypeptides are separated first by SDS polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and transferred to cellulose nitrate electrophoretically. The resultant pattern is stained by enzyme-linked staining techniques. This permits direct detection of the antigenic specificities recognized by human and animal immune serum. For example, human convalescent sera from patients with Mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia recognize 2 to 7 polypeptides in M. pneumoniae, whereas human sera from patients with postpartum fever from whom Ureaplasma urealyticum has been isolated from the bloodstream detect 15 to 25 polypeptides. A comparison of M. pneumoniae with M. genitalium using rabbit antisera demonstrated that these two organisms show strong cross-reactions, although the organisms can be distinguished. Although certain antigens (epitopes) are destroyed in the procedure, it appears that about two-thirds of the polypeptides retain antigenicity. Immunoblotting provides a powerful means for identifying and subsequently fractionating antigens important to the human immune response.
在支原体目抗原结构的研究中，确定特定抗体所针对的抗原性质存在很大困难。在免疫印迹法中，首先通过SDS聚丙烯酰胺凝胶电泳分离多肽，然后将其电泳转移至硝酸纤维素膜上。所得图谱通过酶联染色技术进行染色。这使得能够直接检测人和动物免疫血清所识别的抗原特异性。例如，肺炎支原体肺炎患者的人恢复期血清可识别肺炎支原体中的2至7种多肽，而从血流中分离出解脲脲原体的产后发热患者的人血清可检测到15至25种多肽。使用兔抗血清对肺炎支原体和生殖支原体进行比较表明，尽管这两种生物体可以区分，但它们显示出强烈的交叉反应。尽管在该过程中某些抗原（表位）被破坏，但似乎约三分之二的多肽保留了抗原性。免疫印迹法为鉴定以及随后分离对人类免疫反应重要的抗原提供了一种强大的手段。
