New Approaches to Evaluate Microbial Macromolecules as Potential Vaccines: Studies of the Surface of Neisseria gonorrhoeae Using Antibody-Gold Sphere Immunological Probes. In: Jackson GG, Thomas H, editors. The Pathogenesis of Bacterial Infections. Berlin: Springer Berlin Heidelberg; 1985. pp. 387-91. [DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-70351-5_34]

Probing the surface of Neisseria gonorrhoeae: immunoelectron microscopic studies to localize cyanogen bromide fragment 2 in gonococcal pili

Common epitopes accessible to antibody on purified macromolecules or structurally altered gonococci may not be accessible to antibody when those macromolecules are in their native state on the surface of intact organisms. To determine the immunologic accessibility of cyanogen bromide fragment 2 (CNBr2), a portion of the gonococcal pilin molecule that is common to all gonococcal strains on the surface of viable gonococci, probes composed of specific CNBr2 antibodies linked to gold spheres were manufactured. When whole piliated gonococci were exposed to these anti-CNBr2 immunological probes and examined using transmission electron microscopy, no significant marketing of native pili was evident. These probes, however, detected CNBr2 in purified form. The epitopes encompassed within the CNBr2 portion of pili appear to be inaccessible to anti-CNBr2 probes within native gonococcal pili.

Immunoelectron microscopic localization of outer membrane proteins II on the surface of Neisseria gonorrhoeae

To determine the ultrastructural distribution and immunological accessibility of proteins II (P.IIs) on the surfaces of whole gonococci, anti-P.II gold probes were developed and used in electron microscopic studies of viable P.II-expressing variants of Neisseria gonorrhoeae FA1090. Anti-P.II probes clearly marked the surfaces of organisms and their associated outer membrane blebs. The surface-exposed portion of P.II is antigenically variable. With the use of two different sizes of gold probes, it was demonstrated that individual gonococcal cells can express more than one antigenic type of P.II simultaneously.

Probing the surface of Neisseria gonorrhoeae: simultaneous localization of protein I and H.8 antigens

Gonococcal outer membrane protein I and the neisserial antigen H.8 are being investigated for inclusion in a gonococcal vaccine. To determine the distribution of immunoaccessible protein I and H.8 molecules on the surface of viable gonococci and to approximate the accessibility of these antigens to vaccine-elicited antibodies, immunologic probes composed of protein I- and H.8-specific antibodies linked to gold spheres were developed. When whole gonococci were exposed to the protein I and H.8 immunologic probes and examined by transmission electron microscopy, gold spheres clearly marked the surface of some of the gonococci, but not the surface of other gonococci from the same culture. The immunologic accessibility of gonococcal protein I or neisserial H.8 varied among gonococci. This diversity may affect the efficacy of a vaccine composed of these surface antigens.