Immunoglobulin E antibodies against Staphylococcus aureus cell walls in the sera of patients with hyperimmunoglobulinemia E and recurrent staphylococcal infection

Abstract

The specificity of antistaphylococcal antibodies of the IgE class in five patients with hyperimmunoglobulinemia E and recurrent staphylococcal infection has been investigated. Purified cell walls were prepared from various staphylococcal strains, and serum immunoglobulin E binding was measured by using a solid-phase radioimmunoassay. Immunoglobulin E binding occurred only with cell walls from Staphylococcus aureus strains, including walls from a teichoic acid-deficient mutant. Immunoglobulin E did not bind to cell wall preparations from the coagulase-negative species S. capitis, S. sciuri subsp. lentus, S. simulans, S. xylosus, staphylococcal strains RB-11 and Armour, and from a group A streptococcus strain CS44. Since the glycan backbone and the tetrapeptide (pentapeptide) subunit of the peptidoglycan of all staphylococcal strains tested are believed to be identical, it is suggested that IgE binding is related to either the peptidoglycan interpeptide bridge or an unknown antigenic structure within the cell wall of S. aureus. The pathophysiological significance of antistaphylococcal immunoglobulin E antibodies in the disorder studied is at present unknown. The formation of immunoglobulin E antibodies to S. aureus cell wall components may be a manifestation of an aberrant immunological response to S. aureus related to the undue susceptibility to staphylococcal infections in these patients.

Immunoglobulin E anti-Staphylococcus aureus antibodies in atopic patients

“…Studies of the binding of antistaphylococcal IgE antibodies to different strains of Staphylococcus sp. and cell wall components suggest that the binding site may be related to interpeptide bridges in peptidoglycan (7).…”

Nasal carriage of Staphylococcus aureus and antistaphylococcal immunoglobulin E antibodies in atopic dermatitis

“…Quantitative nasal cultures from carriers of S. aureus have yielded a bacterial log mean of 5.146 (13), which is remarkably similar to the number of organisms found in our patients. SIgE levels were not significantly elevated in normal individuals tested thus far (1,(9)(10)(11), but in these studies nasal cultures for S. aureus were not obtained. Future investigators will have to determine whether increases in SIgE levels occur in normal individuals harboring S. aureus in their anterior nares.…”

Neutrophil chemotactic activity of peptidoglycan A comparison between Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis

“…S. epidermidis PG contains more serine and less glycine that S. aureus PG (13). Differences in IgE binding to cell walls of different staphylococcal species were ascribed to differences in PG interpeptide bridges (16). The different abilities of peptidoglycan from S. epidermidis and S. aureus to activate the alternative complement pathway, part of the innate immune defence system, may contribute to the inability of S. epidermidis to cause infections in healthy persons.…”