Pseudomonas aeruginosa flagellar antibodies in serum,saliva and sputum from patients with cystic fibrosis

Flagellar preparations from Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains were characterized and used in ELISA and immunoblot studies to detect anti-P. aeruginosa flagellar antibodies in sera, saliva and sputum from patients with cystic fibrosis (CF). Serum antiflagellar IgG antibodies were detected, particularly in those CF patients intermittently or chronically colonized by P. aeruginosa. Antibodies to both type-a and -b flagella were detected; however, in some patients a pronounced antibody response to only one of the flagellar types was evident. Raised levels of anti-flagellar antibodies in intermittently and non-P. aeruginosa colonized patients may represent an early antibody response to P. aeruginosa colonization of the CF respiratory tract and implicate instigation of early anti-pseudomonal antibiotic therapy.