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Immunological properties of surface proteins of Clostridium difficile

¹Université de Paris-Sud, Faculté de Pharmacie, Département de Microbiologie, 5 rue JB Clement, F-92296 Châtenay-Malabry cedex, France ²Université Catholique de Louvain, Faculté de Médecine, Unité de Microbiologie, Avenue Hippocrate 54.90, Bruxelles 1200, Belgium

Correspondence Séverine Péchiné severine.pechine{at}cep.u-psud.fr

Received June 28, 2004
Accepted October 1, 2004

Sera from patients with Clostridium difficile-associated disease (CDAD) and sera from a control group were analysed by an ELISA to detect antibodies directed against four surface proteins and toxins A and B of C. difficile. The surface proteins were the flagellar cap protein FliD, the flagellin FliC, the adhesin Cwp66 divided into two domains, Cwp66-Nterminal and Cwp66-Cterminal, and the fibronectin-binding protein Fbp68. For each antigen, antibody levels in the CDAD patient group and in the control group were compared. In the CDAD patient group, the mean of the antibody levels decreased from Cwp66-Cterminal to Fbp68, FliD, toxins B and A, Cwp66-Nterminal and finally FliC, suggesting different immunogenic properties among these adhesins. For Cwp66-Nterminal, FliC, FliD and Fbp68, the antibody level observed in the control group was higher than in the CDAD group with a statistically significant difference whereas the antibody level for toxins A and B was not statistically different. In conclusion, this study suggests that during the clinical course of disease, C. difficile adhesins are able to induce an immune response which could play a role in the defence mechanism of the host.

Abbreviation: CDAD, Clostridium difficile-associated disease.

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