Absence of bactericidal antibodies against Group-I lipopolysaccharide determinants of Neisseria gonorrhoeae during human infection.

None of 34 sera from patients with gonorrhoea contained antibodies bactericidal for strains of Neisseria gonorrhoeae with Group-I lipopolysaccharide (LPS). All contained antibodies against a strain with Group-II LPS, as do sera from uninfected controls. The absence of Group I-LPS antibodies in infected humans contrasts with previous findings that mice immunised with strains from either of the LPS groups produced bactericidal antibody to Group I. Our hope that detection of antibodies to Group-I strains would provide a screening test for gonorrhoea was, therefore, not realised.