Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

J M Griffiss

Publications and source records attributed to J M Griffiss.

105 records · Page 6Linked to original sources
PubMed1978

Separation and purification of immunoglobulins M,A and G from small volumes of human sera by a continuous, inline chromatographic process.

A continuous, in-line chromatographic process for the separation of immunoglobulins M, A and G from small volumes of human sera is described. The process involves the sequential and uninterrupted application of molecular sieve, ion-exchange, immunoadsorbent-affinity and de-saltin-concentrating chromatographic methodologies. From 1-3 ml of starting serum it yields 45-55%, by weight, of the three classes of immunoglobulins in 36 h. Each immunoglobulin fraction is free of contamination by immunoglobulins of the other two classes and retains full biological activity as measured by a sensitive immune lysis assay.

Chromatography, Affinity↗
PubMed1977

Immunoepidemiology of meningococcal disease in military recruits. I. A model for serogroup independency of epidemic potential as determined by serotyping.

One hundred twenty strains of Neisseria meningitidis were serotyped with use of cross-absorbed rabbit antisera in a bactericidal test. Fifty-eight epidemic strains of serogroup B, C, and Y that occurred simultaneously among military recruits at two basic training centers during a period of epidemic meningococcal disease were compared with 62 strains of serogroups A, B, C, and Y isolated worldwide. Antisera to the six original antigenic factors of the Gold serotyping schema were adequate for typing 94% of strains, including all of the epidemic strains. The array of serotyping factors in the epidemic strains differed from those in the nonepidemic strains. Epidemic strains were almost exclusively of two serotypes, with type CII predominant among strains of groups B and C. Concurrent strains of groups B and C were invariably of the same serotype. A model for the epidemic potential of meningococcal strains, which is based on their serotype and serogroup antigens, and a modification of the original Gold typing schema are presented.

Adult↗
PubMed1977

Immunoepidemiology of meningococcal disease in military recruits. II. Blocking of serum bactericidal activity by circulating IgA early in the course of invasive disease.

The potential role of IgA antibody to Neisseria meningitidis, which blocks bacteriolysis by IgG and IgM, in producing the susceptible state in military recruits, a population at greater than expected risk, was investigated in 28 patients with meningococcal disease. IgA was removed from acute-phase sera by immunoadsorption; IgG was separated by ion-exchange, and IgM by gel-filtration chromatography. The bactericidal activity of acute-phase sera, before and after removal of IgA, and of IgG and IgM fractions from the sera, was tested against each of the homologous infecting strains. Bactericidal activity, the correlate of protective immunity, was deficient in 24 of 28 unabsorbed sera, but uniformly present after the removal of IgA in a median titer of 1:16. IgM accounted for all or nearly all of the bactericidal activity. IgG was largely inactive. Susceptibility to meningococcal disease may be affected by the blocking of bactericidal IgM by circulating IgA.

Blood Bactericidal Activity↗
PubMed1976

Clinical correlation of strain differentiation of Neisseria gonorrhoeae.

An in vitro bactericidal assay that utilized a set of 20 typing antisera to Neisseria meningitidis was developed to distinguish differences in strains of Neisseria gonorrhoeae based on patterns of killing. When test conditions were rigidly standardized, the method was sensitive and reproducible. Strains of gonococci from 20 unrelated patients had 20 different patterns of killing. Sets of strains of N. gonorrhoeae that were likely to be identical on the basis of clinical histories were examined. Organisms isolated from consorts reacted in an identical fashion in seven of nine instances. The two nonidentical sets of strains from consorts were also different in their antibiotic sensitivity patterns. The case history of one patient suggested that one of these strains was obtained from a source of infection other than the named consort, and a second patient was reinfected with a strain from her partner four months later. Four sets of strains were cultured at different intervals after appropriate therapy. On the basis of bactericidal patterns, the strains from one patient were the same, a finding that suggested treatment failure; the strains from other patients were not identical, a fact that suggested that patients were reinfected.

Antigens, Bacterial↗
PubMed1976

Response to antigenic determinants of Neisseria meningitidis lipopolysaccharide investigated with a new radioactive antigen-binding assay.

Adaptations of the Farr technique have resulted in a specific and reproducible radioactive antigen-binding assay for antibodies directed against the lipopolysaccharide (LPS) of Neisseria meningitidis. LPS was intrinsically labeled with 14C acetate during 16-hr growth in a modified Frantz media, extracted by hot phenol-H2O, and purified by dialysis, ultracentrifugation, and ethanol precipitation. LPS, which aggregates in aqueous solutions, was maintained in a monomeric form in 3% sodium deoxycholate (NaD) as determined by gel filtration on Sephadex G-75. Since NaD is insoluble in (NH4)2SO4, polyethylene glycol, 20%, was used to precipitate immunoglobulins of all three major classes.

Animals↗
PubMed1975

Bactericidal activity of meningococcal antisera. Blocking by IgA of lytic antibody in human convalescent sera.

Humoral IgA, separated and purified from human sera drawn 12, 27, and 33 days after infection with serogroups B, Y, and C meningococci, respectively, has been shown to inhibit complement-mediated bacteriolysis by IgG and IgM purified from the same sera. Inhibition was dependent on the ratio of lytic to blocking antibody, was strain specific, and was greater for IgG than IgM. IgM was found to be more active than IgG in a bactericidal test. Activity of IgA appeared unrelated to the presence of a prozone in the whole serum. Similar inhibition was noted for IgA separated from rabbit sera.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Pigment gallstone pathogenesis: slime production by biliary bacteria is more important than beta-glucuronidase production.

Pigment stones are thought to form as a result of deconjugation of bilirubin by bacterial beta-glucuronidase, which results in precipitation of calcium bilirubinate. Calcium bilirubinate is then aggregated into stones by an anionic glycoprotein. Slime (glycocalyx), an anionic glycoprotein produced by bacteria causing foreign body infections, has been implicated in the formation of the precipitate that blocks biliary stents. We previously showed that bacteria are present within the pigment portions of gallstones and postulated a bacterial role in pigment stone formation through beta-glucuronidase or slime production. Ninety-one biliary bacterial isolates from 61 patients and 12 control stool organisms were tested for their production of beta-glucuronidase and slime. The average slime production was 42 for biliary bacteria and 2.5 for stool bacteria (P <0.001). Overall, 73% of biliary bacteria and 8% of stool bacteria produced slime (optical density >3). In contrast, only 38% of biliary bacteria produced beta-glucuronidase. Eighty-two percent of all patients, 90% of patients with common bile duct (CBD) stones, 100% of patients with primary CBD stones, and 93% of patients with biliary tubes had one or more bacterial species in their stones that produced slime. By comparison, only 47% of all patients, 60% of patients with CBD stones, 62% of patients with primary CBD stones, and 50% of patients with biliary tubes had one or more bacteria that produced beta-glucuronidase. Most biliary bacteria produced slime, and slime production correlated better than beta-glucuronidase production did with stone formation and the presence of biliary tubes or stents. Patients with primary CBD stones and biliary tubes had the highest incidence of slime production. These findings suggest that bacterial slime is important in gallstone formation and the blockage of biliary tubes.

Bacteria↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Lipooligosaccharides: the principal glycolipids of the neisserial outer membrane.

The outer-membrane glycolipids of bacteria that colonize mucosal surfaces that are not routinely bathed by bile acids often lack the long, hydrophilic and neutral polysaccharides that protect the lipid membranes of enteric bacteria from dispersal. The glycolipid from these organisms is properly termed a lipooligosaccharide. A Neisseria strain makes from two to six lipooligosaccharide molecules that range in Mr from 3,150 to 7,100. Different species of Neisseria commonly make lipooligosaccharides of identical Mr and epitope content. Differences in oligosaccharides account for most of the observed physical heterogeneity. Oligosaccharides consist of (1) partially conserved and highly substituted basal oligosaccharides that branch at heptose residues; (2) a linear segment consisting of (hexose)n residues that determines the length of the oligosaccharide; and (3) terminal sequences that are similar to those of glycosphingolipids. Epitope expression is linked to physical heterogeneity and is modified by the molecular environment of the outer membrane. Serotype epitopes are present only on lipooligosaccharides of a certain Mr. Certain lipooligosaccharides regulate complement activation onto the bacterial surface and, hence, immune lysis.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Epidemic meningococcal disease: synthesis of a hypothetical immunoepidemiologic model.

A hypothetical model of the epidermic behavior of Neisseria meningitidis, based upon the induction of susceptibility to disseminated disease by circulating IgA, is presented. The model is based on the assumption that epidemic susceptibility is acquired as a result of induction of serum IgA by cross-reacting enteric bacteria, the priming organism. Co-colonization with the appropriate strain of N. meningitidis then may result in disseminated disease. Colonization by either bacterium in the absence of the other results in reinforcement of the commensal relationship. Slow, silent, fecal-oral transmission of the priming organism determines the time/space characteristics of an epidemic; interruption of fecal-oral transmission aborts it. Aerosol transmission of the meningococcus determines the magnitude of an epidemic. Independent, age-related acquisition of both capsular polysaccharide and lipopolysaccharide antibodies provides immunity in the absence of aberrantly high levels of co-specific serum IgA.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Group A meningococcal disease in the U.S. Pacific Northwest: epidemiology, clinical features, and effect of a vaccination control program.

In 1975 an outbreak of group A meningococcal disease began in Seattle, Washington, and cases subsequently were recognized throughout the Pacific Northwest. Nearly one-half of the affected persons were Native Americans; two-thirds were alcohol abusers and/or habitués of skid road communities. In Seattle, group A meningococci colonized asymptomatic persons only if these individuals had contact with skid road (P = .006). The epidemic strain may have spread from American Indians in Manitoba, Canada. Traditional migration routes connect the two populations; asymptomatic American Indians on reservations in Washington carried group A meningococci. Vaccination programs were undertaken in four cities but only after cases occurred. In Seattle, vaccination reached 80% of the target population and was associated with a significant decrease in incidence of the disease, but cases recurred after the program ended. The social habits of skid road communities, combined with the "case-triggering" approach to, and premature termination of, vaccination programs, may have resulted in 56% of regional cases occurring after the start of the vaccination program in Seattle.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Vaccines against encapsulated bacteria: a global agenda.

The World Health Organization (WHO) asked the authors to create a comprehensive program for the development of vaccines against encapsulated bacteria as a guide for the WHO Programme on Vaccine Development. The goal is a new generation of safe, inexpensive, and easily administered vaccines that are immunogenic in infancy and provide prolonged immunity in the vaccinate, secondary immunization to community members not reached in the initial application, and/or herd immunity. The approach is to capitalize on advances in molecular biology, biochemistry, and immunology, and the agenda developed addresses the five genera that cause most morbidity in less-developed areas of the world: Neisseria, Streptococcus, Staphylococcus, Haemophilus, and Pseudomonas. Three strategic areas for study are emphasized: existing polysaccharide vaccines, natural immunity and pathogenesis, and evaluation of new or speculative alternative approaches. It is hoped that this agenda will stimulate the widest possible participation in this global initiative.

Bacterial Capsules↗
PubMedDate not supplied

In vitro aggregation of macrophages around human-derived Pneumocystis carinii.

Interaction between human monocyte-derived macrophages with human Pneumocystis carinii was examined in this study. Macrophages formed aggregates around P. carinii in the presence of heat-inactivated, but not native serum. This interaction is distinct from phagocytosis and appears to be analogous to granuloma formation.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗