The lipooligosaccharide immunotype as a virulence determinant in Neisseria meningitidis

Lipo-oligosaccharide immunotyping of Neisseria meningitidis by a whole-cell ELISA with monoclonal antibodies

“…In this respect, it is remarkable that in Britain a major difference has been discovered between carrier isolates (mostly L 1 /L8) and case isolates (L3). 27 The reference strains of the L3/Ll/L8 group of ITS did not show "pure" reaction patterns. Strain 126E (Ll) also reacted with the L8 group of MAbs, strain M978 (L8) with the L3 group and strain 6275 (L3) weakly with the L8 group (table I).…”

Biochemical Analysis of Lpt3, a Protein Responsible forPhosphoethanolamine Addition to Lipooligosaccharide ofPathogenic Neisseria

“…As a result, meningococcal strains containing PEA at 6-HepII are more susceptible to the bactericidal effects of serum than strains with the 3-position modification (29). It has been suggested that this difference in C4b interaction depending on the PEA modification site may account for that fact that more than 70% of meningococcal strains isolated from humans contain PEA at 3-HepII (26) and why, during an outbreak of meningococcal meningitis, 97% of disease-causing isolates carried the same modification (17).…”

Expression of sialic acid and polysialic acid in serogroup B Neisseria meningitidis: divergent transcription of biosynthesis and transport operons through a common promoter region

“…These studies support a hypothesis that sialic acid expression is regulated during the different stages of meningococcal pathogenesis. Levels of capsular polysaccharide have been shown to be increased in clinical isolates from patients with invasive meningococcal disease (5,24,53) and decreased in meningococci recovered from nasopharynxes (4). During the Stonehouse outbreak of group B:15 meningococcal disease in Gloucester, England, asymptomatic carrier isolates were recovered with the same genotype and phenotype as the outbreak strain except that the carrier strains were nongroupable (5).…”