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Studies on Immunization Against Plague

VII. A HEMAGGLUTINATION TEST WITH THE PROTEIN FRACTION OF PASTEURELLA PESTIS: A SEROLOGIC COMPARISON OF VIRULENT AND AVIRULENT STRAINS WITH OBSERVATIONS ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE BACTERIAL CELLS AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO INFECTION AND IMMUNITY^*

From the George Williams Hooper Foundation, University of California, San Francisco, Calif.

Abstract

A hemagglutination test has been developed for the protein component of Pasteurella pestis, by application of a technique described by Boyden. This test and the polysaccharide hemagglutination test previously described are highly selective for either the protein or the polysaccharide of P. pestis, and the serum response is highly specific. The polysaccharide test is valuable for research, while the protein test is excellent for both diagnosis and research. Various virulent and avirulent P. pestis strains and preparations were compared by means of these and other serologic tests, and a working hypothesis of the antigenic structure of the plague bacillus and the relationship of structure of the plague bacillus to virulence and immunogenicity is outlined. The polysaccharide fraction does not affect phagocytosis and is not a protective antigen for either mice or guinea pigs, but it provokes a specific serologic reaction. The protein fraction is a protective antigen directly affecting phagocytosis.

Footnotes

^* These studies were sponsored by the Commission on Immunization, Armed Forces Epidemiological Board, and supported (in part) by the Office of the Surgeon General, Department of the Army.