Comparison of different antigen preparations in an evaluation of the immune response to Campylobacter pylori

This study presents a novel approach to the analysis of protein antigens of Campylobacter pylori for use in serology. Protein fractions of this bacterium were resolved in polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, eluted from gel strips in an electric field and used for coating of microtiter plates in an ELISA-type assay run with a small set of sera from both infected and non-infected patients. Reactivity and discriminative power of the different fractionated antigens (1-9) and crude antigen preparations (A-C) were compared. Better discrimination was achieved between positive and negative sera with high molecular weight fractionated preparations (antigens 8 and 9) than with low molecular weight fractions. Among the crude antigen preparations, antigens A (sonicated whole cells) and C (ultracentrifugated sonicate) seem to have a better discriminative power than antigen B (acid glycin extract).