Detection of Heat-Stable Antigens of Campylobacter jejuni and C. coli by Direct Agglutination and Passive Hemagglutination

Abstract

The two serotyping schemes for the detection of heat-stable antigens of Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli use the same strains for antiserum production but differ in the detection systems used for identifying agglutination. The Penner method uses passive hemagglutination (PHA) while the Laboratory of Enteric Pathogens method uses the same antisera but in a whole-bacterial-cell direct agglutination (DA) protocol. C. jejuni produces a polysaccharide capsule, which is antigenic, and is the main component detected by the PHA method. The DA method will detect both capsule antigens and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or lipooligosaccharide (LOS) surface antigens. Comparison of both methods by using a selection of isolates from human infection has shown a range of variation in agglutination specificity, reflecting the differences in antigens detected by the two methods. While 27.4% of the 416 C. jejuni isolates reacted with the antisera raised against the same type strains by either method, the majority showed a range of more complex relationships. None of the 37 C. coli isolates reacted with the same antiserum by both methods. Together the two schemes gave a total of 102 distinct combined serogroups for C. jejuni and 16 for C. coli. Thus, while some clonally related isolates share the same capsule and LOS or LPS antigens, other strains appear to have a common capsule antigen but differ in their LPS or LOS structures or vice versa.

Current epidemiological issues in human campylobacteriosis

“…2000). This reinforces the hypothesis that Campylobacter have two distinct ‘species’ of heat stable antigen and it has been suggested (Oza et al 1999; Thwaites et al. 1999) that, while the Penner method detects primarily the capsular antigen, the LEP direct agglutination method will detect both capsule and LPS.…”

“…Genetic studies on the Campylobacter genome have iden-ti®ed loci for both LPS/LOS and`capsule' 8 , Parkhill et al 2000. This reinforces the hypothesis that Campylobacter have two distinct`species' of heat stable antigen and it has been suggested (Oza et al 1999;Thwaites et al 1999) that, while the Penner method detects primarily the capsular antigen, the LEP direct agglutination method will detect both capsule and LPS. Further studies are in progress to clarify this situation and differences in distribution between capsule and LOS antigens between different host animals may well lead to important conclusions about the nature of the virulence determinants in C. jejuni.…”

Sources of Campylobacter spp. Colonizing Housed Broiler Flocks during Rearing

“…These isolates gave a strong reaction with several antisera from the serotyping scheme and could possibly be phase variants of each other (data not shown). Other workers have recorded similar concerns and the problems that may be encountered when interpreting serotyping data (9,31). Of the three typing methods used in this study, MLST provided a sound basis for answering epidemiological questions, while the other methods confirmed findings and in some cases further discriminated between the strains.…”

Genetic instability is associated with changes in the colonization potential ofCampylobacter jejuniin the avian intestine

“…All observed genotypes and serotypes of parental strains and offspring are summarized in Table 3. The observed changes in serotype are relatively minor, and would have remained undetected by the Penner serotyping procedure (Oza et al. 2002).…”