Infection of S. anginosus could occur frequently in oral squamous cell carcinoma and that dental plaque could be a dominant reservoir of the S. anginosus.
A novel antigen that induces nitric oxide (NO) synthesis by murine peritoneal exudate cells (PEC) was prepared from a culture supernate of Streptococcus anginosus NCTC 10713 in dialysed medium by column chromatography with DEAE-Sephacel followed by size-exclusion high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). A chemical analysis of the S. anginosus antigen (SAA) revealed that it mainly consisted of carbohydrates (rhamnose, N-acetylglucosamine, glucose and galactose), smaller quantities of protein and a trace amount of phosphorus. The SAA stimulated PEC from C57BL/6N mice to produce NO and accumulate induced NO synthetase (iNOS) mRNA in a dose-dependent manner, reaching a plateau with 10±30 ìg=ml. Furthermore, a reverse transcription-PCR assay revealed that SAA 10 ìg=ml could induce mRNA accumulation of tumour necrosis factor-á, interleukin (IL)-1â and IL-6 as well as iNOS. In contrast, RantzRandall antigen (RRA), a carbohydrate antigen prepared from the organisms, could not induce NO synthesis or cause the accumulation of iNOS mRNA, although cytokine production was observed after stimulation. The SAA-induced NO synthesis, but not the cytokine production, was sensitive to heat. Furthermore, an immunoblot analysis of SAA indicated that the 43-kDa protein band reacted with anti-SAA but not anti-RRA antibodies. In immunodiffusion, SAA reacted with both anti-SAA and anti-RRA antibodies, and the precipitin bands formed crossing lines, suggesting that SAA could possess two different antigenic components ± one that reacts speci®cially with anti-SAA antibodies and another that has an identity similar to that of RRA. Taken together, SAA, a novel antigen of S. anginosus, was found to induce NO synthesis as well as produce in¯ammatory cytokines in murine PEC. It is suggested that the protein molecule of SAA may exclusively induce NO synthesis, and its carbohydrate component(s) could have a relationship to cytokine production.
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