PubMed · 5081499
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R R Martin. 1972. Staphylococcus and teichoic acid.. https://doi.org/10.7326/0003-4819-77-5-813
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Peripheral facial palsy (PFP) may be the only sign of Lyme borreliosis in children. A literature study prompted by three children with PFP showed that a positive test for Borrelia burgdorferi antibodies in the blood or cerebrospinal fluid in combination with pleocytosis in the cerebrospinal fluid makes a diagnosis of Lyme borreliosis extremely probable. At least half of the children with PFP as a result of Lyme borreliosis show other signs or symptoms suggesting this disease. No data are available on the prevalence of Lyme borreliosis among children with PFP in the Netherlands; in adults, however, the prevalence is very low. Therefore, assuming a similar low prevalence in children with PFP, the predictive value of serological testing in children may be limited, in which case serological screening is not useful. Moreover, treatment with antibiotics does not seem to improve the prognosis of PFP significantly. Based on these data, serological testing and lumbar puncture is justified only in children with PFP associated with other signs or symptoms of Lyme borreliosis, such as bilaterality of the PFP, signs of meningeal irritation, a recent history of erythema migrans, arthritis or a recent tick bite.
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AIM: To construct a recombinant prokaryotic expression vector inserted with Helicobacter pylori vacA gene and identify the immunity of the expressed recombinant protein, and to determine prevalence of vacA-carrying/VacA expressing H pylori isolates and seroprevalence of specific ant-VacA antibody in H pylori infected patients. METHODS: Polymerase chain reaction technique was used to amplify complete vacA gene of H pylori strain NCTC11637 and to detect vacA gene in 109 H pylori isolates. The amplification product of the complete vacA gene was sequenced after T-A cloning. A recombinant expression vector inserted with a complete vacA gene fragment, named as pET32a-vacA, was constructed. Expression of the target recombinant protein VacA (rVacA) was examined by SDS-PAGE. Western blot using commercial antibodies against whole cell of H pylori and an immunodiffusion assay using self-prepared rabbit anti-rVacA antibody were applied to determine immunoreaction and antigenicity of rVacA. Two ELISA methods were established to detect VacA expression in H pylori isolates and the specific anti-VacA antibody in sera from 125 patients infected with H pylori. RESULTS: In comparison with the reported corresponding sequences, homologies of nucleotide and putative amino acid sequences of the cloned vacA gene were 99.82% and 100%, respectively. The constructed recombinant prokaryotic expression system efficiently produced rVacA. rVacA was able to combine with the commercial antibodies against whole cell of H pylori and to induce the immunized rabbit to produce specific antibody with an immunodiffusion titer of 1:4. All tested H pylori isolates carried vacA gene, but only 66.1% expressed VacA protein. Of the serum samples tested, 42.4% were positive for specific anti-VacA antibody. CONCLUSION: A prokaryotic expression system of H pylori vacA gene was successfully constructed. The expressed rVacA can be used to detect specific anti-VacA antibody in human and to prepare antiserum in animals. The high frequency of vacA gene in H pylori isolates, but with a low frequency of VacA expression and specific anti-VacA antibody in H pylori infected patients implies that VacA is not an ideal antigen for H pylori vaccine.