Antibody response to enterobacterial lipoprotein of patients with varied infections due to Enterobacteriaceae.

The present study was initiated to determine the antibody response to lipoprotein 
of patients with various enterobacterial infections. This investigation was also considered 
important because patients with these infections respond differently to another antigen 
common to enterobacteriaceae, the common enterobacterial antigen. Included were 33 patients 
with cystic fibrosis, complicated by enterobacterial respiratory tract infection. The lipoprotein 
(LP) antibody levels of healthy subjects and of patients with varied 
enterobacterial infections were determined. None of the healthy children and only 
one of the healthy adults had antibodies against LP. In contrast, 
18% of the children with peritonitis complicating appendicitis, 24% of patients 
with enterobacterial infection of the respiratory tract complicating cystic fibrosis, and 
42% of adult subjects with bacteremia complicating malignancy, had LP antibodies 
in the serum. The reason for these striking differences in the 
immune response to this common antigen remains to be elucidated. 