Western immunoblot analysis of Ehrlichia chaffeensis, E. canis, or E. ewingii infections in dogs and humans.

Ehrlichia chaffeensis, E. canis, and E. ewingii are genetically closely related, as determined by 16S rRNA gene base sequence comparison, but they exhibit biologic differences. E. chaffeensis is the etiologic agent of human ehrlichiosis. E. canis and E. ewingii cause two distinctly different forms of canine ehrlichiosis and infect different types of leukocytes, monocytes and granulocytes, respectively. E. chaffeensis can also infect dogs. In the study, Western immunoblot analysis of sera from dogs inoculated with E. chaffeensis, E. canis, or E. ewingii was performed to determine antigenic specificity and the intensities of the reactions to purified E. chaffeensis and E. canis antigens. At 2 to 3 weeks postexposure, antisera from four dogs inoculated with E. chaffeensis reacted with 64-, 47-, 31-, and 29-kDa proteins of E. chaffeensis but reacted poorly with E. canis antigen. In contrast, at 2 to 3 weeks postexposure, antisera from four E. canis-inoculated dogs reacted strongly with the 30-kDa major antigen of E. canis but reacted poorly with proteins from E. chaffeensis. At 4 weeks postexposure, the sera from three E. ewingii-inoculated dogs showed weak binding to 64- and 47-kDa proteins of both E. chaffeensis and E. canis. Convalescent-phase sera from human ehrlichiosis patients and sera from dogs chronically infected with E. ewingii strongly reacted with similar sets of proteins of E. chaffeensis and E. canis with similar intensities. However, sera from dogs chronically infected with E. canis reacted more strongly with a greater number of E. canis proteins than with E. chaffeensis proteins. The protein specificity described in the report suggests that dogs with E. canis infections can be distinguished from E. chaffeensis-infected animals by Western immunoblot analysis with both E. canis and E. chaffeensis antigens.