Studies on the Somatic C Polysaccharide of Pneumococcus

Abernethy, Theodore J.

doi:10.1084/jem.65.1.75

Cited by 19 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…coli infection. Abernethy & Francis (1937), in a reinvestigation, obtained the same positive results in pneumonia and other cases of coccal infection as before. They found the reaction present during the acute phase and complications, but absent in nine fatal cases of pneumonia.…”

Section: Summary and Discussionsupporting

confidence: 76%

Studies in immunization by a species antigen: I. The presence of ‘species antigen’ and of ‘opposition factor’ in bacteria other than pneumococci

Day

1944

Epidemiol. Infect.

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The experiments here described proved that preparations made from widely different classes of bacteria are capable of inducing immunity in mice against pneumococci. The success of these preparations was found to depend on the differential separation of an active immunizing antigen from another bacterial constituent—an ‘opposition factor’—which interferes with immunization. Further investigation and comparison depend largely on the discovery of a really effective method for the isolation and purification of the active antigen. Until its chemical nature is determined, the identity of the pneumococcal species antigen with similarly acting substances found in other bacteria remains unproved.Pathogenic bacteria depend for their virulence and invasiveness on certain products individual to the species or type, and specific immunity is due to the development of the appropriate antibodies. But chemotherapy, as in the case of the sulphonamides, interferes with a less specialized metabolic process of the microbes and is neither species nor type specific in action. It is reasonable to infer that bacteria may possess in common a vital process associated with the presence of a common constituent which may be antigenic. ‘Species antigen’ may be a substance of this nature.In view of the wide distribution of ‘species antigen’ among bacteria generally, it is probable that this constituent has already been separated and named in accordance with its presence in a particular species, but irrespective of its potential immunizing capacity.So far as pneumococci are concerned, there is good evidence that species antigen may be identical with the species C carbohydrate. Tillett (1927) found that rabbits injected with successive courses of heat-killed pneumococci, whether of types I, II, III or of avirulent rough strains, developed an equal increase of resistance to infection by type III Pneumococcus. In 1936 Enders, Wu & Shaffer varied the procedure, and by injections of rough pneumococci prepared an antiserum which gave passive protection to rabbits against infection by type III Pneumococcus. This antiserum lost its protective power after absorption with the species C carbohydrate.

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Section: Summary and Discussionsupporting

confidence: 76%

Studies in immunization by a species antigen: I. The presence of ‘species antigen’ and of ‘opposition factor’ in bacteria other than pneumococci

Day

1944

Epidemiol. Infect.

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“…Of the 10 unstimulated animals studied, 4 showed no CRP response following injection of radiolabeled protein, serum CRP levels remaining <2 ug/ml throughout the period of study. The other six had very mild CRP responses, CRP levels rising by 2-11 ug/ml.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…Although C-reactive protein (CRP)l has been detected in the plasma of many species (1,2), it has been shown to behave as a striking acute phase reactant in only man (3), monkey (4), and the rabbit (5). In man and rabbits, CRP concentration rises rapidly after tissue injury or infection (6,7) and the magnitude of the response is remarkable; concentrations as much as 1,000 or more times normal levels may be attained.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

In Vivo Studies of Serum C-reactive Protein Turnover in Rabbits

Chelladurai¹,

Macintyre²,

Kushner³

1983

J. Clin. Invest.

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A B S T R A C T We determined the plasma half-life of the acute phase protein C-reactive protein (CRP) both in normal rabbits and in rabbits that had received inflammatory stimuli. Rabbit CRP was purified from acute phase serum by Cx-polysaccharide affinity chromatography, radiolabeled, and rendered pyrogen-free. Six unstimulated rabbits were injected intravenously with '25I-CRP prepared by the lactoperoxidase method and four were injected with CRP labeled by methylation using ['4C]formaldehyde. Blood samples were obtained at 0.25 h and at intervals thereafter. Plasma half-life of CRP was calculated from the data generated during the first 12 h, by which time an average of 86% of labeled protein had disappeared from the blood stream. The mean half-life for CRP was 4.45±0.2 h, with no significant difference (0.40 < P < 0.45) between 125I-and '4C-labeled CRP. In six animals stimulated with either endotoxin or turpentine 24 h before injection of labeled CRP, a mean half-life of 5.8±0.6 h was found, not significantly different (0.30

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“…Distribution of the pathological findings of the experimental disease in these animals have been described in a preceding paper (6).…”

Section: 'Cmentioning

confidence: 97%

The Occurrence During Acute Infections of a Protein Not Normally Present in the Blood

Abernethy

Avery

1941

Journal of Experimental Medicine

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274

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In 1930 Tillett and Francis (1) found that in certain infectious diseases, notably lobar pneumonia, the serum obtained from patients during the acute stage of the illness yields a precipitate in the presence of dilute solutions of the C polysaccharide of Pneumococcus. In pneumonia the precipitation test is positive during the height of the disease and becomes negative shortly after the onset of recovery. Thus the precipitating action of the serum closely parallels the clinical course of the infection. Although the particular carbohydrate used as test reagent is derived from Pneumococcus, the presence of the active substance in serum is not limited to pneumococcal diseases but occurs in a number of other infections such as acute rheumatic fever, bacterial endocarditis, and staphylococcal osteomyelitis. Ash (2) confirmed and extended these findings and showed that the "C-reactive" substance is demonstrable in sera obtained from children during the acute stage of infections due to Gram-negative bacilli of the colon-typhoid group. In view of the observations cited above it is evident that the phenomenon is associated with a variety of acute pathological conditions and is not specific with respect to the inciting agent.In 1934 Francis and Abernethy (3) published a preliminary report on the occurrence in patients during the acute stage of pneumonia of a characteristic skin reaction following the intracutaneous injection of 0.1 mg. of the C carbohydrate. They showed that the skin reaction is correlated with the precipitating action of the serum in vitro. These results were later confirmed by Finland and Dowling (4). Recently Abernethy and Francis (5) using a more highly purified preparation of the C polysaccharide corroborated the earlier work and emphasized the striking agreement between the results of the serological and cutaneous tests. In all patients in whom the disease terminated in uneventful recovery they found that both the serum and skin tests were positive during the acute febrile period and became negative shortly after crisis. With the development of complications, the capacity of the skin and serum to react may persist or reappear. Only in fatal cases have the results of the serological and cutaneous tests failed to agree. In these instances it has been observed that the skin may fail to react although the active substance can be demonstrated in the blood at the time of death.In a subsequent paper (6) Abernethy reported the results of a study of the precipitation reaction with sera obtained from experimentally infected animals. He found that the serum of monkeys (Macacus cynomolgos) acutely ill with experimentalType II Pneumo-173

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Studies on the Somatic C Polysaccharide of Pneumococcus

Cited by 19 publications

References 5 publications

Studies in immunization by a species antigen: I. The presence of ‘species antigen’ and of ‘opposition factor’ in bacteria other than pneumococci

Studies in immunization by a species antigen: I. The presence of ‘species antigen’ and of ‘opposition factor’ in bacteria other than pneumococci

In Vivo Studies of Serum C-reactive Protein Turnover in Rabbits

The Occurrence During Acute Infections of a Protein Not Normally Present in the Blood

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