Molecular basis of immunological cross-reactivity between Treponema pallidum and Treponema pertenue.

Protein antigens of Treponema pallidum, Nichols strain, and Treponema pertenue, Gauthier strain, were identified by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and Western blotting techniques. Treponemal proteins were solubilized in 1% sodium dodecyl sulfate, electrophoresed on 12.5% polyacrylamide gels, and either stained with Coomassie brilliant blue or electrophoretically transferred to nitrocellulose paper. These antigen blots were incubated with sera from rabbits infected with either T. pallidum or T. pertenue and 125I-labeled staphylococcal protein A and exposed to X-ray film for visualization of antigenic molecules. Protein profiles of each organism separated by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and stained with Coomassie brilliant blue showed no distinguishable differences. Antigenic profiles as determined by Western blots were similar with two exceptions. A 39,500-dalton band was present on T. pertenue but absent from T. pallidum, and a 19,000-dalton band was present on T. pallidum but absent from T. pertenue (although two additional antigenic bands at 21,000 and 18,000 daltons were seen on T. pertenue). Because these differences were detected by using antisera raised against either T. pallidum or T. pertenue, these molecules must contain some antigenic determinants in common despite their differences in molecular weight.