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Adjuvant Action of Capsular Polysaccharide of Klebsiella pneumoniae on Antibody Response
Author(s) -
Nakashima Izumi,
Kato Nobuo
Publication year - 1973
Publication title -
japanese journal of microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.664
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1348-0421
pISSN - 0021-5139
DOI - 10.1111/j.1348-0421.1973.tb00932.x
Subject(s) - chemistry , antigen , adjuvant , sephadex , antiserum , strain (injury) , microbiology and biotechnology , size exclusion chromatography , ultracentrifuge , klebsiella pneumoniae , chromatography , biochemistry , biology , escherichia coli , enzyme , genetics , anatomy , immunology , gene
A study was made to characterize the active substance for the extraordinarily strong adjuvant effect of the capsular polysaccharide of Klebsiella pneumoniae (CPS‐K) type 1 Kasuya strain. CPS‐K was fractionated into acidic and neutral CPS‐K by the addition of cetyl‐pyridinium chloride. Neutral CPS‐K exhibited an extremely strong adjuvant effect. The active substance in neutral CPS‐K was precipitable when mixed with a rabbit homologous antiserum. The neutral CPS‐K antigen was serologically distinct from the O antigen and from the acidic CPS‐K which was the type‐specific capsular antigen. Among preparations of neutral CPS‐K from eight different strains of K. pneumoniae tested, the preparation from only one strain (MH‐2) exhibited a strong adjuvant effect comparable to that of the neutral CPS‐K from the Kasuya strain. The neutral CPS‐Ks from Kasuya and MH‐2 strains were antigenically identical. This antigen was not found in all preparations of neutral CPS‐Ks obtained from seven different strains. Preparations of acidic CPS‐Ks from all strains of K. pneumoniae tested with various serologic types including Kasuya and MH‐2 strains were found to exhibit only weak adjuvant effects. The active substance (neutral CPS‐K antigen from Kasuya strain) was shown to form a single peak upon analyses by gel filtration (Sephadex G‐100) and ultracentrifugation. Sedimentation coefficient of the substance was approximately 20 S at a concentration of 5 mg per ml in 0.1 M NaCl. The active substance finally purified by gel filtration contained 65% sugars (as glucose equivalents), 6.8% hexuronic acids, 2.6% hexosamine, 2.3% proteins, and very small amounts of lipids.