No abstract available.
Animal ; Antibodies, Bacterial/blood ; Antigens, Bacterial/blood ; Human ; Mites/microbiology ; Orientia tsutsugamushi/classification/immunology ; Scrub Typhus/diagnosis/*epidemiology/immunology

OBJECTIVEYersinia enterocolitica is an extracellular pathogen and its related antigens interact with the host immune system. We investigated the difference in immunological characteristics between a highly pathogenic and poorly pathogenic strain of Y. enterocolitica.

METHODSWe used SDS-PAGE and western blotting to characterize lipopolysaccharide (LPS), Yersinia outer membrane proteins (Yops), membrane proteins, and whole-cell proteins from poorly pathogenic Y. enterocolitica bio-serotype 2/O:9, isolated from China, and highly pathogenic bio-serotype 1B/O:8, isolated from Japan.

RESULTSThese two strains of Y. enterocolitica had different LPS immune response patterns. Comparison of their Yops also showed differences that could have accounted for their differences in pathogenicity. The membrane and whole-cell proteins of both strains were similar; immunoblottting showed that the 35 kD and perhaps the 10 kD proteins were immunogens in both strains.

CONCLUSIONThe major antigens of the two strains eliciting the host immune response were the LPS and membrane proteins, as shown by comparing protein samples with reference and purified preparations.

Animals ; Antigens, Bacterial ; genetics ; metabolism ; Bacterial Proteins ; genetics ; metabolism ; Blotting, Western ; Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel ; Female ; Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial ; physiology ; Lipopolysaccharides ; metabolism ; Rabbits ; Yersinia enterocolitica ; classification ; metabolism

OBJECTIVETo explore the distribution characteristics of the types of M protein gene (emm) in group A streptococcus (GAS) isolated from children in Beijing in the year 2011.

METHODSDuring May to July in 2011, a total of 3315 patients who were diagnosed scarlet fever or pharyngeal infection by doctors in pediatric outpatient and emergency units of 36 hospitals, were selected as subjects. Their throat swab samples were collected and isolated the strains of GAS. Gene emm was then amplified and sequenced by PCR method, and the differences in types of gene emm between different populations and diseases were compared.

RESULTSA total of 633 strains of GAS were isolated from the 3315 throat swab samples, 610 strains out of which were gene emm positive and were recruited in the study. Out of the 610 recruited strains, 448 (73.4%) were isolated from scarlet fever patients, the other 162 (26.6%) were isolated from pharyngeal infection patients; 397 (65.1%) were from urban, the other 213 (34.9%) were from suburb; 240 (39.4%) were from patients aging between 1 - 5 years old, the other 369(60.6%) were from patients aging 6 - 18 years old. A total of 8 types of gene emm (scarlet fever: 6 types, pharyngeal infection: 4 types) and 21 subtypes of gene emn (scarlet fever: 16 subtypes, pharyngeal infection: 10 subtypes) were identified. Three new subtypes were found in the study, naming emm1.63, emm12.62 and st5144.20. Among them, emm1.63 was found both in scarlet fever and pharyngeal infection patients, while emm12.62 and st5144. 20 were only found in pharyngeal infection patients. Among all the types of gene-emm, emm12 accounted for the highest percentage as 80.5% (491/610) and then followed by emm1 (18.0% (110/610)). Among all the subtypes, the dominant subtype was emm12.00, accounting for 69.0% (421/610), following by emm1.00 (16.9% (103/610)) and emm12.19 (6.1% (37/610)). All the above types and subtypes of gene emm were the most prevalent strains in scarlet fever patients and pharyngeal infection patients. Significant differences in the distribution of prevalent strains were observed among various aging patients and regions. The constituent ratios of emm1, emm1.00 and emm12.19 were higher in patients from suburb (emm1: 22.1% (47/213), emm1.00: 19.2% (40/213), emm12.19: 8.0% (17/213)) than those in urban areas (emm1: 15.9% (63/397), emm1.00: 15.6% (62/397), emm12.19: 5.0% (20/397)). The difference showed statistical significance (P < 0.05). The constituent ratio of emm1.00 was higher among patients aging 6-18 years old (19.2% (71/369)) than those aging 1 - 5 years old (13.3% (32/240)). The difference also showed statistical significance (χ(2) = 8.45, P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONAmong the types of gene emm in GAS isolated from children in Beijing in year 2011, the most prevalent two were emm12 and emm1, and the most prevalent emm subtypes were emm12.00, emm1.00 and emm12.19. A significant difference in their distribution between various aging patients and isolated places can be obviously found.

Adolescent ; Antigens, Bacterial ; classification ; genetics ; Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins ; classification ; genetics ; Carrier Proteins ; classification ; genetics ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; China ; Female ; Genes, Bacterial ; Genotype ; Humans ; Infant ; Male ; Microbial Sensitivity Tests ; Streptococcus pyogenes ; genetics ; isolation & purification

OBJECTIVETo analyze the genetic differences of Orientia tsutsugamushi (Ot) Sta56 gene between Shandong isolates and other strains deposited in GenBank.

METHODSPCR and restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) were used to amplify the complete sequence of Ot-Sta56 gene. RFLP profiles of Ot were predicted by a computer program according to their complete sequences of Ot-Sta56 gene. PCR amplicon from XDM2 strain was sequenced and analyzed by Clustal X (1.8) and PHYLIP software.

RESULTSThe complete sequences (about 1.6 kbp) of Ot-Sta56 gene were amplified from B16 strain (isolated from patients), FXS2 strain (isolated from A. agrarius) and XDM2 strain. Four species of restriction endonucleases (Hha I, Hinf I, Hae III, Pst I) were used to digest the PCR amplicons from the 3 isolates. When comparing with the RFLP profiles of prototype Ot, the RFLP profiles of PCR amplicons from the 3 isolates were similar to those of Japan Kawasaki strain, but were quite different from the international reference strains Gilliam, Karp, Kato. Results from DNA sequence analysis showed that the complete sequence of Ot-Sta56 gene homology to Japan Kawasaki strain of XDM2 strain was 97%, and deduced amino acid sequence was 92%.

CONCLUSIONData from the complete sequence of Sta56 gene indicated that the genotypes of Ot isolates in Shandong province were similar, but with distinction from the Kawasaki strain.

Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism Analysis ; Antigens, Bacterial ; genetics ; Bacterial Proteins ; genetics ; Bacterial Typing Techniques ; classification ; DNA, Bacterial ; genetics ; Genes, Bacterial ; Membrane Proteins ; genetics ; Orientia tsutsugamushi ; genetics ; isolation & purification ; Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length ; Sequence Analysis, DNA

Antigens, Bacterial ; immunology ; Antigens, Surface ; immunology ; China ; epidemiology ; Diarrhea ; microbiology ; Escherichia coli Infections ; epidemiology ; microbiology ; Escherichia coli O157 ; classification ; immunology ; isolation & purification ; Humans

Vibrios are universal conditioned-pathogenic bacteria in marine culture environment, and the outbreak of vibrio disease resulted in a serious damage to aquaculture. Considering that vibrio disease in aquatic species, especially fishes, usually originated from mixed infection of different species (serotypes or subspecies) of vibrios, it is important to select the potential cross-protective protein antigens as candidates of polyvalent or combined vaccines. In present research, several strains of vibrios were isolated from infected large yellow croaker (Pseudosciaena crocea) and subsequently identified as six strains of V. harveyi, one V. parahaemolyticus and one V. alginolyticus by physiological, biochemical and molecular biological methods. Their outer membrane proteins (OMPs) were extracted and the SDS-PAGE and Western blotting results show that three immuno-blots with common molecular weight presented at approximate 45 kDa, 35 kDa and 22 kDa on their OMP electrophoretogram, indicating the existence of antigens with cross-protection in their OMPs. With the aids of combination of two-dimensional electrophoresis (2-D) and Western blotting and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS), a deduced porin (GenBank Accession No. ZP_01260407) from V. alginolyticus and a maltoporin precursor (GenBank Accession No. NP_801154) from V. parahaemolyticus were able to react with polyclonal antibody to whole V. harveyi, suggesting these two proteins could act as the cross-protective antigens and the vaccines prepared with these porins would be probable to bring cross protection to three different vibrios.
Animals ; Antigens, Bacterial ; immunology ; Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins ; immunology ; Cross Reactions ; Fish Diseases ; microbiology ; Perciformes ; microbiology ; Vibrio ; classification ; immunology ; isolation & purification ; pathogenicity ; Vibrio Infections ; microbiology

OBJECTIVETo understand the distribution of emm gene types related to group A streptococcus-caused scarlet fever among children in Beijing and to analyze the relationship between the mutation of the emm types and scarlet fever.

METHODSNasopharyngeal swab samples were collected from the scarlet fever cases diagnosed in 36 hospitals in Beijing to isolate the GAS strains from May to July, betgween 2011 and 2014. Genotyping of emm gene was performed with PCR and N-terminal gene fragments of M protein were sequenced. Data of all the scarlet fever cases in Beijing that reported through the National Notifiable Infectious Disease Surveillance System (NNIDSS) , were gathered and analyzed.

RESULTSAmong the collected 2 161 nasopharyngeal swabs, 762 GAS strains were identified (35.3%). In addition, 7 emm types were detected, in which emm12 accounted for 69.4% (529/762) , emm1 accounted for 29.8% (227/762) , and other five types (emm 11, 22, 75, 89, and 128) accounted for 0.8% (6/762) , respctively. Compared with the emm types detected between 2011 and 2014, emm12, emm1 and other types accounted for 82.2% (295/359) , 16.7% (60/359) and 1.1% (4/359, including emm11, 22 and 89) in 2011 respectively.emm12, emm1 and emm75 accounted for 77.3% (123/163) , 23.9% (39/163) and 0.6% (1/163) respectively in 2012. emm12 and emm1 accounted for 50.7% (38/75) and 49.3% (37/75) in 2013 while emm12, emm1 and emm128 accounted for 44.2% (73/165) , 55.2% (91/165) and 0.6% (1/165) respectively in 2014. The differences of the constitution of emm types from 2011 to 2014 appeared statistically significant (P<0.001). In 2011 and 2012, major type appeared as emm12, but in 2014, emm1 became predominant. A total of 6 152 cases were reported in 2011, while 2 908, 2 048 and 3 918 cases were reported in 2012, 2013 and 2014 respectively. Age specific differences were noticed in the distribution of emm types GAS strains in 2011, with the number of emm12 strains detected higher in 1-5 year olds than in age group > 5 years (P<0.05). There were area specific differences in distribution of emm types of GAS strains seen in 2011 and 2013. In 2011, the number of emm1 strains detected in urban area was higher than in suburb area (P<0.05). However, in 2013, the number of emm1 strains detected in suburb area was seen higher than in urban area (P< 0.05).

CONCLUSIONGAS with emm12 and GAS emm1 appeared interchangeably predominant in Beijing from 2011 to 2014. Changes in predominant emm types seemed also related to the trends of incidence rates on scarlet fever.

Antigens, Bacterial ; Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins ; Beijing ; epidemiology ; Carrier Proteins ; Child ; Genotype ; Humans ; Mutation ; Scarlet Fever ; epidemiology ; genetics ; Streptococcus pyogenes ; classification ; genetics ; isolation & purification

OBJECTIVETo investigate cagA, vacA and iceA genotypes of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) isolated from children suffering from gastric and duodenal diseases in Shanghai and to explore a possible genotype-phenotype correlation.

METHODSFrom May 2007 to January 2008, 59 children were confirmed with Hp infection by gastroscopy. Biopsied specimens were taken from the gastric antrum. cagA, vacA and iceA genes were determined by PCR. The histological changes in the gastric mucosa were evaluated. The levels of IFN-gamma and IL-4 in the gastric mucosa were measured using ELISA.

RESULTScagA, vacAs1/m1, vacAs1/m2, iceA1 and iceA2 were found in 65%, 19%, 40%, 63% and 19% of H. pylori strains, respectively. Both iceA1 and iceA2 were detected in 9% of strains. There were no statistical differences in the distribution of various genotypes between the children with chronic gastritis and peptic ulcer. No association was observed between the genotypes and the degree of inflammation of gastric mucosa. There were no significant differences in levels of IFN-gamma and IL-4 in the gastric mucosa infected by different genotypes of H. pylori strains.

CONCLUSIONScagA/vacAs1/m2/iceA1 may be the commonest genotype combination of H.pylori in children from Shanghai. That there was no association between H.pylori genotypes and clinical variables suggests the potential role of host and environment factors in the development of clinical diseases at a later life.

Adolescent ; Antigens, Bacterial ; genetics ; Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins ; genetics ; Bacterial Proteins ; genetics ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Female ; Gastritis ; microbiology ; Genotype ; Helicobacter pylori ; classification ; genetics ; Humans ; Interferon-gamma ; analysis ; Interleukin-4 ; analysis ; Male ; Peptic Ulcer ; microbiology

OBJECTIVETo investigate the prevalence of cagA, vacA, and iceA genotypes in the isolated strains of Helicobacter pylori (H.pylori) from children with gastroduodenal diseases in Jiangxi, China, as well as the association between cagA, vacA, and iceA genotypes and the type of gastroduodenal diseases.

METHODSThe samples of gastric antral mucosa were collected from 316 children with gastroduodenal diseases in Jiangxi, and a total of 107 strains of H.pylori were isolated. The genomic DNA of these strains was extracted, and PCR was used to determine the ureA, cagA, vacA, and iceA genotypes.

RESULTSOf all the 107 isolated strains of H.pylori, the detection rates of ureA and cagA genes were 100% (107/107) and 94.4% (101/107) respectively. The overall detection rate of vacA gene was 100% (107/107), and the detection rates of vacAs1a, vacAs1c, vacAm1, and vacAm2 genes were 74.8% (80/107), 25.2% (27/107), 29.9% (32/107), and 69.2% (74/107) respectively, with both vacAm1 and vacAm2 genes detected in 0.9% (1/107) of all H.pylori strains. In the chimera of vacA gene, the detection rates of vacAs1a/m1, vacAs1a/m2, vacAs1c/m1, and vacAs1c/m2 genes were 26.2% (28/107), 51.4% (55/107), 3.7% (4/107), and 17.8% (19/107) respectively (P<0.001). The detection rates of iceA1 and iceA2 genes were 79.4% (85/107) and 9.3% (10/107), respectively (P<0.001), and both iceA1 and iceA2 genes were detected in 7.5% (8/107) of all strains. The detection rates of the genotypes of H.pylori showed no significant differences between the peptic ulcer, chronic gastritis, and duodenal bulbar inflammation groups (P>0.05).

CONCLUSIONSThe dominant genotypes of H.pylori are cagA, vacAs1a/m2, and iceA1, and there are mixed infections with H.pylori strains of different genotypes in children with gastroduodenal disease from Jiangxi, China. The genotypes of H.pylori are not associated with the type of gastroduodenal disease.

Adolescent ; Antigens, Bacterial ; genetics ; Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins ; genetics ; Bacterial Proteins ; genetics ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Female ; Gastritis ; microbiology ; Genotype ; Helicobacter pylori ; classification ; genetics ; isolation & purification ; Humans ; Infant ; Male ; Peptic Ulcer ; microbiology

OBJECTIVETo study the relationship of the types of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) strains with the classification and the severity of chronic gastro-duodenal diseases in children.

METHODSOne hundred and fifteen children with chronic upper gastrointestinal symptoms who were diagnosed as H. pylori infection by gastroscopy were enrolled in this study. H. pylori strains were serotyped by immunoblot technique. The gastric biopsy specimens of all patients were studied histologically.

RESULTSType I H. pylori strains were confirmed in 84 cases (73.0%), intermediate type strains in 21 cases (18.3%), and type II strains in 10 cases (8.7%). Type I H. pylori strains infection caused a moderate gastric mucosal inflammation in 83 cases and a severe inflammation in 1 case. Intermediate type H. pylori strains infection caused a moderate gastric mucosal inflammation in 21 cases. Type II H. pylori strains infection caused a mild gastric mucosal inflammation in 2 cases and a moderate inflammation in 8 cases. Different types of H. pylori strains resulted in different severity of gastric mucosal inflammation (x2=15.444, P < 0.01). The gastric mucosal inflammation due to type I H. pylori strains was the most severe, while the inflammation due to type II H. pylori strains was relatively mild. The incidence of nodulus lymphaticus of gastric mucosa due to type I, type II and intermediate type H. pylori strains infection was 76.2%, 47.6% and 40.0%, respectively (x2=10.171, P < 0.01). The classification of chronic gastro-duodenal diseases was not associated with the types of H. pylori strains.

CONCLUSIONSType I strains were the leading cause of H. pylori infection in children. All of types of H. pylori strains can cause pathohistologic changes of gastric mucosa. Type I H. pylori strains infection can result in the most severe gastric mucosal inflammation and the highest incidence of nodulus lymphaticus. The immunoblot serotyping of H.pylori strains may be useless for the classification of chronic upper gastrointestinal diseases but it is helpful for the evaluation of the severity of the diseases in children.

Adolescent ; Antibodies, Bacterial ; blood ; Antigens, Bacterial ; genetics ; Bacterial Proteins ; genetics ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Chronic Disease ; Female ; Gastric Mucosa ; pathology ; Gastrointestinal Diseases ; microbiology ; pathology ; Helicobacter Infections ; complications ; diagnosis ; Helicobacter pylori ; classification ; Humans ; Male