Agglutination of Treponema Pallidum in Human Syphilis

Kolmer, John A.; Broadwell, Stuart; Matsunami, Toitsu

doi:10.1084/jem.24.4.333

Cited by 11 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…Since it is now agreed that T. pallidura has not as yet been cultivated and is therefore not available in adequate amounts for the usual in vitro immunological studies, various cultivatable, non-pathogenic spirochetes have been used in agglutination and complement-fixation tests (11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25) with sera from syphilitic animals and human beings. However, a considerable proportion of presumably normal sera has been found to react with these antigens, though usually in low titre.…”

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confidence: 99%

Immobilization of Treponema Pallidum in Vitro by Antibody Produced in Syphilitic Infection

Nelson

Mayer

Eagan³

1949

Journal of Experimental Medicine

350

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It is well established that animals and human beings infected with Treponema pallidum become resistant to reinfection with the same organism, but the mechanism of this immunity is poorly understood. One of the serious handicaps to studies on this problem has been the lack of in v#ro methods for the detection of antibody to 1". pallidum.Early reports of an in vitro spirocheticidal action of serum and spinal fluid from patients in the late stages of syphilitic infection (1-3) were based on crude qualitative tests and did not offer experimental data adequate to establish the claims made. Such findings were not confirmed by others (4, 5) and recent experiments in this laboratory (10) did not yield convincing evidence of an in ritro effect.The presence of spirocheticidal antibody in serum from syphilitic individuals has been demonstrated by animal "protection" tests (6--10), but the costly and cumbersome nature of these tests, as well as their qualitative character, renders them unsuitable for systematic investigation of the r61e and mechanism of specific humoral immunity in syphilis.Since it is now agreed that T. pallidura has not as yet been cultivated and is therefore not available in adequate amounts for the usual in vitro immunological studies, various cultivatable, non-pathogenic spirochetes have been used in agglutination and complement-fixation tests (11-25) with sera from syphilitic animals and human beings. However, a considerable proportion of presumably normal sera has been found to react with these antigens, though usually in low titre. This reactivity with normal sera, as well as the lack of a clear understanding of the relationship of these non-virulent spirochetes to pathogenic T. pallidum, renders their use as antigens in the study of humoral immunity in syphilis of dubious value.

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confidence: 99%

Immobilization of Treponema Pallidum in Vitro by Antibody Produced in Syphilitic Infection

Nelson

Mayer

Eagan³

1949

Journal of Experimental Medicine

350

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“…From time to time, various investigators have reported that syphilitic serum contains antibodies to spirochetes. Thus, syphilitic serum has been reported to agglutinate suspensions of cultured spirochetes in higher titres than do normal sera (5)(6)(7)(8)(9)34). Similarly, several investigators have reported that syphilitic human sera give complement fixation with suspensions or extracts of cultured spirochetes (10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18).…”

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On the Presence in Syphilitic Serum of Antibodies to Spirochetes, Their Relation to So Called Wassermann Reagin, and Their Significance for the Serodiagnosis of Syphilis

Eagle

Hogan

1940

Journal of Experimental Medicine

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1. In confirmation of Gaehtgens, syphilitic human sera give positive complement fixation with cultures of so called T. pallidum (Reiter strain). Syphilitic rabbit sera are equally reactive. Syphilitic human and rabbit sera agglutinate these cultures, often in high titre (Beck). 2. Normal rabbit sera react weakly with the culture to give both agglutination and complement fixation in low titre. Normal human sera, despite the fact that they contain agglutinins in low titre, fail to fix complement with the Reiter strain of cultured spirochetes. Confirming Gaehtgens, the latter reaction is therefore of practical utility for the serum diagnosis of syphilis. 3. When syphilitic serum is heated at 63°C., there is no demonstrable difference in the thermolability of the antibody to spirochetes, and of the reagin which determines the Wassermann and flocculation tests. 4. (a) The absorption of syphilitic serum by spirochetal suspensions removes all reactivity, not only for the spirochetes, but for tissue lipoids (alcoholic beef heart extract) as well; the sera become Wassermann- and flocculation-negative. (b) Absorption of syphilitic serum with tissue lipoids renders the Wassermann and flocculation tests negative, but does not demonstrably change the reactivity of the serum with spirochetes. (c) Rabbits immunized to beef heart lipoid develop spirochetal agglutinins and complement-fixing antibodies (Reiter strain) in high titre. 5. It is concluded that these cultured spirochetes contain antigenic material serologically related to a substance present in mammalian tissue, as well as other antigenic factors not present in such extracts, but equally reactive with syphilitic serum. 6. These findings support the thesis that the primary serologic change in syphilis is the development of antibodies to T. pallidum. The Wassermann and flocculation tests would be explained on the basis that the tissue extracts used as "antigen" in these tests contain one or more substances serologically related to antigenic components of T. pallidum. Similarly, the cultured Reiter strain of spirochete is apparently sufficiently close serologically to T. pallidum to be agglutinated by and to give complement fixation with the antibodies to T. pallidum present in syphilitic serum. 7. Since suspensions of cultured spirochetes contain antigenic factors which react specifically with syphilitic serum, some of which are not present in ordinary Wassermann and flocculation "antigens," they may prove even more valuable than those tissue extracts in the serodiagnosis of syphilis.

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“…In an attempt to overcome this difficulty a number of investigators were led to study agglutination reactions with various strains of non-pathogenic cultured treponemes (11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18). They found, however, that agglutination of these organisms by syphilitic sera was frequently weak and no stronger than the agglutination that occurred with a considerable proportion of non-syphilitic human and rabbit sera.…”

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Specific Agglutination of Treponema Pallidum by Sera From Rabbits and Human Beings With Treponemal Infections

Hardy

Nell

1955

The Journal of Experimental Medicine

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For many years it was suspected that a specific immune response develops in the course of infection with Treponema pallidum, but despite attempts by many investigators to demonstrate specific antibodies, only recently have such efforts been successful. Work on this problem led to the discovery of the Wassermann reaction which together with its various modifications that employ lipoid antigens has been found to have a high degree of accuracy in the detection of syphilitic and related infections. However, it is now generally believed that these so called standard serologic tests for syphilis (STS) 1 do not reveal a specific antibody to Treponona pallidum. Moreover, in recent years it has been demonstrated that these tests give positive reactions with sera from a number of individuals who have no history of syphilis or other treponemal disease (1).The development of specific immunity in treponeme infections was first demonstrated by means of neutralization experiments in rabbits (2, 3) by a method which was too time consuming and expensive to be of practical value. Later, the development of the treponemal immobilization test (4) provided for the first time an in ~itro method for the detection of specific treponemal antibodies. However, the technical difficulties of this test have limited its application to a few specially equipped laboratories, and there still remains a great practical need for a simple, specific immunological test that can be used in the general diagnostic bacteriological laboratory.Numerous unsuccessful attempts have been made to develop a diagnostic test that employs treponemes as the antigen for an agglutination reaction. Hoffman (5) and Zabolotny and Maslakowetz (6) were among the first to demonstrate that T. pallidum expressed from syphilitic lesions were agglutinated by the sera of syphilitic individuals. Their findings were confirmed by others (7-11) but most investigations of this problem

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Agglutination of Treponema Pallidum in Human Syphilis

Abstract: In 1913 one of us (1) first described agglutination of a pure culture of Treponema pallidum by the sera of rabbits injected with a living and heat-killed culture.

Cited by 11 publications

References 7 publications

Immobilization of Treponema Pallidum in Vitro by Antibody Produced in Syphilitic Infection

Immobilization of Treponema Pallidum in Vitro by Antibody Produced in Syphilitic Infection

On the Presence in Syphilitic Serum of Antibodies to Spirochetes, Their Relation to So Called Wassermann Reagin, and Their Significance for the Serodiagnosis of Syphilis

Specific Agglutination of Treponema Pallidum by Sera From Rabbits and Human Beings With Treponemal Infections

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