1992 Volume 36 Issue 8 Pages 815-822
The serum antibody titers against oral streptococci were studied by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) both in patients with Behçet's disease (BD) and control groups. The patients with BD showed significantly higher antibody titers to S. sanguis strains 113-20, 114-23, and 118-1 which were isolated from patients with BD, in comparison with control groups. Also, the reactions of high-titered sera to the crude cell wall and soluble (or membrane) fractions of the 113-20 strain were observed by western blot test. The sera of the patients with BD demonstrated strong bands of approximately 36kDa, 82kDa, and 87kDa in the crude cell wall fractions, and many bands of 80kDa to 150kDa in the membrane fractions, indicating that these proteins are the ones leading the high antibody titers to this bacterium in the sera of patients with BD.
