Hordnes K, Tynning T, Kvam A I, Jonsson R, Haneberg B
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Bergen, Norway.
Infect Immun. 1996 May;64(5):1643-52. doi: 10.1128/iai.64.5.1643-1652.1996.
We have studied the relationships between genital or rectal carriage of group B streptococci (GBS) with the levels of systemic and mucosal antibodies to GBS in 200 women at about week 17 of pregnancy. Secretions from the uterine cervix were collected with absorbent cylindrical wicks for quantification of antibody levels with whole cell enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. GBS were cultured from the cervix (with or without concomitant rectal colonization) of 13.5%, from the rectum (with or without concomitant cervical colonization) of 12%, and from both culture sites of 8.5% of the women. Serotypes Ia, II, and III were predominant. Compared with culture-negative women, the group of women colonized rectally had markedly elevated levels of both immunoglobulin A (IgA) and IgG antibodies to GBS in cervical secretions and also had a moderate but significant elevation of IgA antibodies in sera. Women colonized only in the cervix had increases of specific IgA and IgG antibodies in cervical secretions, but their serum antibody levels were not elevated. In cervical secretions, the increase in antibody levels in the groups of colonized women was most pronounced for the IgG isotype, indicating a mucosal immune response involving IgG as well as IgA. A close correlation was found among the levels of antibodies to each of the three GBS serotypes tested. Evidence for such cross-reacting antibodies to different serotypes of GBS, as well as to group A streptococci, was also obtained from absorption experiments. Altogether, our results show that undiluted secretions for antibody determination can be easily collected from the uterine cervix with absorbent wicks and demonstrate that colonization of GBS in the rectum and the uterine cervix may induce a systemic as well as a pronounced local immune response in the female genital tract. The findings may have implications for the development of a mucosal vaccine against GBS disease.
我们研究了200名妊娠约17周的女性中B族链球菌（GBS）的生殖道或直肠携带情况与GBS的全身及黏膜抗体水平之间的关系。用吸收性圆柱形棉芯收集子宫颈分泌物，通过全细胞酶联免疫吸附测定法对抗体水平进行定量。13.5%的女性宫颈培养出GBS（伴或不伴有直肠定植），12%的女性直肠培养出GBS（伴或不伴有宫颈定植），8.5%的女性两个培养部位均培养出GBS。血清型Ia、II和III占主导。与培养阴性的女性相比，直肠定植的女性组宫颈分泌物中针对GBS的免疫球蛋白A（IgA）和IgG抗体水平显著升高，血清中IgA抗体也有中度但显著的升高。仅宫颈定植的女性宫颈分泌物中特异性IgA和IgG抗体增加，但其血清抗体水平未升高。在宫颈分泌物中，定植女性组抗体水平的增加在IgG同种型中最为明显，表明涉及IgG以及IgA的黏膜免疫反应。在所检测的三种GBS血清型中，每种血清型的抗体水平之间发现密切相关。从吸收实验中也获得了针对不同血清型GBS以及A组链球菌的此类交叉反应抗体的证据。总之，我们的结果表明，用吸收性棉芯可轻松从子宫颈收集用于抗体测定的未稀释分泌物，并证明GBS在直肠和子宫颈的定植可能在女性生殖道中诱导全身以及明显的局部免疫反应。这些发现可能对开发针对GBS疾病的黏膜疫苗具有启示意义。
