J. Cao et al., DETECTION OF SPIRAL AND COCCOID FORMS OF HELICOBACTER-PYLORI USING A MURINE MONOCLONAL-ANTIBODY, Clinica chimica acta, 267(2), 1997, pp. 183-196
Helicobacter pylori is the major cause of gastritis. The aim of this i
nvestigation was to develop a specific antibody, which recognizes both
coccoid and spiral forms of Helicobacter pylori and to test this anti
body on gastric biopsy sections known to harbour coccoid bacteria. Mur
ine monoclonal antibodies against glycine-acid extracts of five strain
s of Helicobacter pylori were raised. Immunofluorescence and immunoele
ctron microscopy showed that one antibody of the IgG1 subclass was spe
cific for both the spiral and coccoid forms. Tt reacted with a 28 kDa
protein that was present in all the five strains tested. Using this an
tibody in an indirect immunofluorescence assay of formalin-fixed antra
l and corpus biopsy specimens from Helicobacter pylori-associated gast
ritis patients showed that nine of the nine antral and five of six cor
pus specimens harboured the coccoid form of Helicobacter pylori. This
technique thus provides a rapid and specific detection of both the spi
ral and coccoid forms. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.