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doi: 10.1007/BF02032806pmid: 6423384
Current literature suggests that lectins are becoming valuable reagents for the laboratory identification of infectious agents. The identification of bacteria, fungi, or protozoa may be confirmed if they bind to or agglutinate with certain lectins. Assay kits utilizing specific lectin agglutination reactions, coupled with conventional enzyme determinations, have been proposed for several bacteria. Factors such as specificity, stability, assay rapidity, and costs combine to make lectins attractive diagnostic reagents. It is likely that the use of lectins in diagnostic microbiology will continue to grow.
doi: 10.1007/BF02032807pmid: 6705768
Eight patients are presented in whom treatment with antineoplastic agents, in particular the folic acid antagonist methotrexate, precipitated Clostridium difficile-related diarrhoea and pseudomembranous colitis. The clinical presentation of these patients was identical to that encountered in patients developing antibiotic associated diarrhoea and colitis. Clostridium difficile -related diarrhoea and colitis should be suspected in any patient developing diarrhoea during the course of antineoplastic chemotherapy or within three weeks of its cessation. This complication is effectively treated with oral vancomycin.
doi: 10.1007/BF02032808pmid: 6368223
A novel radioimmunoassay of type-specific M antigens on whole group A streptococcal cells is described. Absorbed rabbit anti-M antisera directed against M types 12 and 49 were used for determining M antigens on intact bacterial organisms. Staphylococcal protein A labelled with 125 I was used as an anti-antibody reagent. The absorbed antisera were tested against ten homologous and 48 heterologous serotypes. All homologous serotypes gave an unequivocal reaction distinct from the weaker reaction with the heterologous serotypes. The type-specificity of the reaction was confirmed by the removal of type-specific antibodies after absorption to purified M protein coupled to Sepharose 4B. The results indicate that the described method is a simple and reliable technique for the recognition of M types of group A streptococci and offers a valuable tool for studies of M antigen in situ.
Tuokko, H.; Toivonen, V.; Salmi, A.
doi: 10.1007/BF02032809pmid: 6368224
Rubella virus-infected cells were fractionated by differential and sucrose gradient centrifugations. Rubella virus antigens distributed into all fractions but particulate material in the 100, 000× g pellet was shown to be enriched about two-fold for rubella virus antigen. Similarly, sucrose gradient fractions for rough endoplasmic reticulum and smooth cellular membranes were enriched for rubella virus antigens. The 100, 000 × g pellet and the isolated cellular membranes proved to be useful when different fractions were used in solid-phase immunoassays for rubella virus-specific IgG or IgM. These fractions were equal in quality of the semipurified rubella virus preparations in the IgG assays but inferior to those in the IgM assays. However, simultaneous use of 35/25 % sucrose fractions from infected and non-infected cells reveals non-specific binding of IgM to the antigens and renders the IgM tests more specific for rubella virus.
doi: 10.1007/BF02032810pmid: 6368225
A direct radioimmune assay for antibody against hepatitis B core antigen (HBcAg) was developed. Flexible microtiter plates were coated with HBcAg, incubated with test samples, and thereafter with 32 P-labelled HBcAg. Labelling was achieved by endogenous protein kinase of the core particles. This assay was tenfold more sensitive than a conventional inhibition assay employing enzyme-labelled anti-HBc as reagent. The radioimmunoassay detected a large number of positive persons (88/200) in a population with a high prevalence of blood-transmitted hepatitis infecticns (medical staff, liver and dialysis patients, contact persons, implicated blood donors) which were not detected by the inhibition assay. Such results were rare in healthy blood donors. The weak anti-HBc activity, which was detected only by direct radioimmunoassay, co-purified with IgG and was inhibited by addition of HBcAg to the serum. The activity may be due to a very limited hepatitis B infection or, what is more likely, to cross-reacting antibodies against unknown antigen(s). The factor detected only by direct radioimmune assay appears to be related to viral hepatitis. For detection of anti-HBc as a marker for hepatitis B virus it is, however, preferable to use less sensitive assays.
Hasche, G.; Stecher, J.; Gmelin, K.; Doerr, H.
doi: 10.1007/BF02032811pmid: 6368226
The antigenic activity of HBcAg produced in Eschericha coli and HBcAg from human liver was compared in a μ -specific solid-phase antibody-capture assay for detection of anti-HBc-IgM. HBcAg from liver could be detected in dilutions up to 1∶3, HBcAg from Escherichia coli in dilutions up to 1∶10, 000. Using HBcAg from Eschericha coli , sera from five patients with acute resolving hepatitis B and sera from four patients with actue hepatitis B who had developed chronic liver disease were tested for anti-HBc-IgM in ELISA. IgM fractions separated out of the same sera by immunoaffinity chromatography were tested for anti-HBc-IgM using a commercially available test. The results were in good agreement with those obtained by ELISA. Anti-HBc-IgM could be detected up to 900 days after onset of disease. Different groups of patients were tested for presence of anti-HBc-IgM in ELISA. Fifty-nine of 60 patients with acute hepatitis B were positive for anti-HBc-IgM at onset of illness. Ten of 16 patients with chronic aggressive hepatitis and seven of 23 HBsAg positive dialysis patients were also positive for anti-HBc-IgM, whereas only two of 12 patients with chronic persistent hepatitis and one of 15 HBsAg positive blood donors (“healthy” carriers of HBsAg) had detectable anti-HBc-IgM.
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