The Journal of Medical Microbiology, Vol 46, Issue 11 965-972, Copyright © 1997 by Society for General Microbiology
Influence of cardiolipin antibodies on the binding of treponemal specific antibodies in the fluorescence treponemal antibody absorption test and the Treponema pallidum immobilisation test
H. L. Borkhardt and S. Zielinski
Institute for Medical Microbiology, Otto von Guericke University of Magdeburg, Germany.
The aim of the present study was to investigate the biological role of
cardiolipin antibodies during Treponema pallidum infection. Inhibition of
the binding of treponemal specific antibodies at the early and late stages
of infection by cardiolipin antibodies was shown in the fluorescence
treponemal antibody absorption (FTA-ABS) test and T. pallidum
immobilisation (TPI) test. Incubation of treponemes with cardiolipin
antibodies followed by a second incubation with treponemal specific
antibodies resulted in a reduction of the titres of the FTA-ABS test and
the TPI test. The findings suggest that cardiolipin antibody production
should be considered as a virulence mechanism of pathogenic treponemes with
the purpose of evading the host defence mechanisms.
