Two hundred and thirty strains of various gram-positive cocci were tested for quantitative, nonimmune binding of radiolabeled human polyclonal immunoglobulin G (IgG). The majority of coagulase-positive staphylococci and streptococci belonging to serogroups C and G showed a high uptake of IgG. The binding of immunoglobulin to group A streptococci was considerably less, with a number of strains completely negative. None of the pneumococcal or the group B or D streptococcal strains displayed any binding capacity. Heterogeneity of the IgG reactivity of various reactive strains was studied in an inhibition assay using 10 different animal serum pools. Three different inhibition patterns were seen, each of them revealing a striking degree of homogeneity within single bacterial species. Staphylococcus aureus and group A streptococci respectively, constituted two homogeneous groups which differed markedly from each other and from C and G streptococci. No differences were observed between group C and G streptococci. Based on the profound differences between these homogeneous groups, three major types of Fc receptors could be defined. Type I and II Fc receptors were found on S. aureus and on group A streptococci, respectively. Fc receptor type III represented the immunoglobulin-binding structure of both group C and G streptococci. Most strains of Staphylococcus aureus carry a surface component, protein A, with the capacity to combine with the Fc part of immunoglobulin molecules (12, 21, 24, 25). In humans,

Five gram-positive bacterial strains were selected for absorption studies of human serum samples. Strain ARi (group A, M-type 1) and G148 (group G), with strong immunoglobulin G (IgG) binding capacities, and strain AW43 (group A, M-type 60), binding both IgAl and IgA2, were compared with Staphylococcus aureus Cowan I and with Staphylococcus epidernidis L603. Both AR1 and G148 were capable of completely absorbing out serum IgG. In contrast, S. aureus Cowan I left a fraction unabsorbed, as expected from its known lack of IgG3 binding. Strain AW43 absorbed out all serum IgA, using a 10-id bacterial pellet for 20 td of serum. Serum IgM levels were slightly reduced by S. aureus Cowan I absorption. On the basis of the experiments, a bacterial mixture was designed consisting of S. aureus Cowan I and group A streptococcus strains ARi and AW43, with absorption characteristics suitable for use in discriminating between early IgM and late IgG and IgA immune responses in routine serological work. A new type of bacteria-mammalian protein binding was discovered. Human serum albumin was completely absorbed out by strain G148 and to a lesser extent by strain AR1 and AW43. S. aureus Cowan I and S. epidermidis were negative. The binding capacity of G148 for albumin equalled that of Cowan I for-IgG. The binding pattern of albumin to the strains was different from those of IgG, IgA, IgM, fibrinogen, haptoglobin, or aggregated ,62-microglobulin and therefore seems to represent another type of bacterial-mammalian interaction with a specific albumin receptor on the surface of streptococci.

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) has eight genotypes which have distinct geographical distributions. Studies comparing differences in the clinical outcomes of infections caused by strains with genotype-related variations in the HBV genome have largely compared genotypes B and C and genotypes A and D but not all four genotypes. The present study included 196 HBV-infected patients attending an infectious diseases outpatient clinic in Sweden. The age and geographic origin, liver function, HBeAg and anti-HBe status, and the presence or absence of HBV DNA were analyzed for each patient. HBV DNA was detected in 144 patients, and the HBV genotype and the core promoter and precore sequences were determined for the isolates from 101 of these patients. Among the patients who might be considered most likely to be nonviremic, namely, anti-HBe-positive HBV carriers with normal alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels, 65% had detectable HBV DNA and were thus viremic. Among the viremic patients, HBeAg-positive patients were more likely to have elevated ALT levels than anti-HBe-positive patients. HBV genotypes A to F were represented in the study, and their distributions coincided accurately with the origin of the patient. A significantly higher number of genotype D-infected patients were anti-HBe positive and had elevated ALT levels (42% of genotype D-infected patients but 0% of patients infected with genotypes B and C). Genotype D strains with mutations in the core promoter and precore regions were significantly correlated with elevated ALT levels in the patients. The differences were not age related. Therefore, in this large-scale cross-sectional study, genotype D appears to be associated with more active disease.

The normalized resistance interpretation offers a new approach to comparative surveillance studies whereby the inhibition zone diameter results from disk tests in clinical laboratories can be used for calibration of the test.

The attachment of Staphylococcus aureus (Cowan I) and two strains of group A and G streptococci on glass cover slips coated with fibronectin, fibronectin fragments, or fibrinogen was studied. The attachment was quantitated by counting the attached bacteria on glass surfaces coated with a similar molarity of the proteins. Fibronectin was a more effective attachment factor than fibrinogen for staphylococci, while group G streptococci attached better on fibrinogen- than on fibronectin-coated cover slips. In this system, group A streptococci bound almost exclusively to substrate-bound fibrinogen. Attachment experiments involving the use of staphylococci pretreated with soluble fibronectin or fibrinogen revealed that bacterium-bound fibronectin and fibrinogen were able to enhance the adherence on cover slips coated with fibronectin. The 30-kilodalton NH2-terminal and the 120- to 140-kilodalton COOH-terminal fragments of fibronectin, both of which contain bacterial binding sites, mediated the staphylococcal attachment, suggesting that both parts of the molecule are involved in the attachment mediated by fibronectin.