FIGURE 5.
Interaction between pneumococcal adhesins and hTSP-1 is charge-dependent and inhibited by heparin. A–F, human TSP-1 (0.1 μg in 100 μl/well) was immobilized on microtiter plates (MaxisorpTM, Nunc) and incubated with a constant molecular ratio of heterologously expressed PavB or PspC fragments (related to hTSP-1) in the presence of increasing concentrations of sodium chloride (0–1.0 m), heparin (0–5 mg/ml), or chondroitin sulfate A (0–5 mg/ml). Bound pneumococcal proteins were detected using a polyclonal mouse anti-SSURE2+3 (PavB) antibody or a polyclonal mouse anti-SH2 (PspC) antibody and a peroxidase-coupled secondary anti-mouse antibody. The mean values of at least three independent experiments are shown with error bars corresponding to S.D. *, p < 0.05; **, p < 0.01; ***, p < 0.001 versus buffer.