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Journal of Clinical Microbiology logoLink to Journal of Clinical Microbiology
. 1989 Feb;27(2):285–290. doi: 10.1128/jcm.27.2.285-290.1989

Serum antibodies to Escherichia coli serotype O157:H7 in patients with hemolytic uremic syndrome.

H Chart 1, S M Scotland 1, B Rowe 1
PMCID: PMC267293  PMID: 2644293

Abstract

Sera from 13 patients with hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) and 8 healthy control subjects were examined for antibodies specific for bacterial antigens of Eschericia coli serotype O157:H7. Bacterial components, including outer membrane proteins (OMPs), lipopolysaccharide (LPS), and flagella, were reacted with sera by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis followed by immunoblotting and by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. All 13 serum samples from HUS patients contained high-titered antibodies of the immunoglobulin M class against O157 LPS and some OMPs. These same sera reacted weakly with some of the major OMPs, but not the LPS, of non-O157 strains of E. coli. Sera from patients did not contain antibodies to non-O157 LPS or H7 flagella. The possibility of using E. coli serotype O157 LPS in an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for the routine diagnostic testing of sera from HUS patients for evidence of O157:H7 infection is discussed.

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Selected References

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