ABO blood groups and susceptibility to gonococcal infection. III. Role of isohemagglutinins in increased association of Neisseria gonorrhoeae to monocytes from blood group B individuals.

The association of human monocytes of different ABO blood groups with gonococci was examined under various conditions. Blood group B monocytes in the presence of autologous heat inactivated serum (HIS) showed increased association over monocytes of the other ABO groups with their autologous sera. No statistically significant trends in ABO monocyte association were noted for assays carried out in the absence of autologous HIS. Absorptions of isohemagglutinins from sera reduced the gonococcus-monocyte association level to that of controls.