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Vaginal washings from women attending a veneral disease clinic were examined for the presence of protease that cleaved IgA subclass 1 (IgA1). In a crude assay, vaginal washings cleaved [125I]IgA1 in 19 of 25 specimens from individuals from whom Neisseria gonorrhoeae were cultivated. Forty-six specimens from 104 women whose cultures were negative for N. gonorrhoeae also cleaved [125I]IgA1. Vaginal washings from six of six women with culture-proven gonorrhea cleaved [125I]IgA1 into low-molecular-weight components identical to those produced by partially purified IgA1-specific protease from gonococci. The hydrolysis of [125I]IgA1 by vaginal washings from women whose cultures were negative for N. gonorrhoeae yielded cleavage products that resembled those of trypsin or alpha-chymotrypsin. These findings indicate that gonococci residing in the female genital tract produce IgA1-specific protease that can be detected in the vaginal washings of infected women.
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Vestnik dermatologii i venerologii,
M Blake, and
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March 1893,
Buffalo medical and surgical journal,
M Blake, and
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J Swanson
March 1989,
Journal of medical microbiology,
M Blake, and
K K Holmes, and
J Swanson
December 1998,
Infection and immunity,
M Blake, and
K K Holmes, and
J Swanson
October 1983,
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M Blake, and
K K Holmes, and
J Swanson
June 1981,
Vestnik dermatologii i venerologii,
M Blake, and
K K Holmes, and
J Swanson
February 1969,
Vestnik dermatologii i venerologii,
M Blake, and
K K Holmes, and
J Swanson
January 1980,
Biochemical and biophysical research communications,
M Blake, and
K K Holmes, and
J Swanson
November 1972,
The Journal of experimental medicine,
