Nandy R K, Albert M J, Ghose A C
Department of Microbiology, Bose Institute, Calcutta, India.
Vaccine. 1996 Aug;14(12):1137-42. doi: 10.1016/0264-410x(96)00035-7.
Vibrio cholerae O139 Bengal strain was the causative agent of the recent epidemics of cholera in India and Bangladesh. We studied antibacterial and antitoxin immune responses in acute and convalescent phase paired sera collected from seven of these cholera patients. Significant rise in the levels of both antibacterial and antitoxin antibodies was demonstrable in the sera of convalescent cholera patients. Antibacterial antibodies, directed primarily against O139 lipopolysaccharides (LPS), belonged to IgM class, while antitoxin antibodies were of IgG and IgA class and neutralized cholera toxin. The convalescent sera, however, showed no increase in the reactivity towards V. cholerae O1 whole cells or their LPS preparation. Immunoblotting experiments revealed that the convalescent, but not the acute, phase serum recognized the truncated form of LPS characteristics of O139 strains. Convalescent serum also induced definite protection against O139, but not O1, challenge in experimental animal model. Further studies showed that such protection was probably mediated by antibodies inhibiting intestinal colonization of O139 organisms. These results suggest that critical difference(s) exists between the immunogenic somatic components of V. cholerae O1 and O139 organisms that are of considerable importance in protection against cholera.
霍乱弧菌O139孟加拉菌株是近期印度和孟加拉国霍乱流行的病原体。我们研究了从其中7名霍乱患者采集的急性期和恢复期配对血清中的抗菌和抗毒素免疫反应。恢复期霍乱患者血清中抗菌和抗毒素抗体水平均有显著升高。主要针对O139脂多糖（LPS）的抗菌抗体属于IgM类，而抗毒素抗体属于IgG和IgA类，并能中和霍乱毒素。然而，恢复期血清对霍乱弧菌O1全细胞或其LPS制剂的反应性没有增加。免疫印迹实验表明，恢复期血清而非急性期血清能识别O139菌株特有的截短形式的LPS。恢复期血清在实验动物模型中也能诱导对O139而非O1攻击的明确保护作用。进一步研究表明，这种保护作用可能是由抑制O139菌在肠道定植的抗体介导的。这些结果表明，霍乱弧菌O1和O139菌的免疫原性菌体成分之间存在关键差异，这在预防霍乱方面具有相当重要的意义。
