IMMUNOBLOT ANALYSIS OF IMMUNE-RESPONSE TO CELL-SURFACE ANTIGENS OF DIFFERENT HELICOBACTER-PYLORI STRAINS

Infection with H. pylori has been strongly associated with chronic typ e B gastritis and peptic ulcer disease, although pathogenic mechanisms of H. pylori infection are still unclear. We examined the structure a nd antigenicity of water extract of 5 H. pylori strains and immunoblot ting with homologous immune rabbit serum. All the tested rabbit sera r ecognized the protein component between 31-66 kD. The 31-66 kD protein bands are highly specific for H. pylori. Only strain isolated from pa tients with gastric or duodenal ulcer disease gave visible bands with the major proteins 98, 116 kD.