Bacterial Capsules
Many bacteria, such as certain Neisseria and Haemophilus or Escherichia coli, are able to withstand the bactericidal activity of complement and phagocytes. This bacterial self protection is brought about by encapsulation. Bacterial capsules thus enable th
- PDF / 27,244,814 Bytes
- 165 Pages / 481.92 x 686.04 pts Page_size
- 114 Downloads / 207 Views
Editors
R. W. Compans, Birmingham/Alabama . M. Cooper, Birmingham/Alabama . H. Koprowski, Philadelphia I. McConnell, Edinburgh . F. Me1chers, Basel V. Nussenzweig, NewYork . M.Oldstone, La lolla/California . S. Olsnes, Oslo . H. Saedler, Cologne . P. K. Vogt, Los Angeles . H. Wagner, Munich I. Wilson, La lolla/California
Bacterial Capsules Edited by K. Jann and B. Jann
With 33 Figures
Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg NewYork London Paris Tokyo Hong Kong
Prof. Dr. KLAUS JANN Dr. BARBARA JANN Max-Planck-Institut fUr Immunbiologie Stubeweg 51, 7800 Freiburg, FRO
ISBN-13: 978-3-642-74696-3 e-ISBN-13: 978-3-642-74694-9 DOl: 10.1007/978-3-642-74694-9 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of tranlation, reprinting, re-use of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in other ways, and storage in data banks. Duplication of this publication or parts thereof is only permitted under the provisions of the German Copyright Law of September 9, 1965, in its version of June 24, 1985, and a copyright fee must always be paid. Violations fall under the prosecution act of the German Copyright Law.
© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 1990 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 15-12910 Softcover reprint of the hardcover I st edition 1990 The use of registered names, trademarks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. Product Liability: The publishers can give no guarantee for information about drug dosage and application thereof contained in this book. In every individual case the respective user must check its accuracy by consulting other pharmaceutical literature. 2123/3020-543210 - Printed on acid-free paper
Preface
Many bacteria, such as certain Neisseria and Haemophilus or Escherichia coli, are able to withstand the bactericidal activity of complement and phagocytes. This bacterial self protection is brought about by encapsulation. Bacterial capsules thus enable the pathogenic bacteria to survive in the host by counteraction or evasion of the nonspecific host defense in the early pre immune phase of an infection. It is only in the late immune phase of the infection, when specific anticapsular antibodies are formed and enforce the host's defense system, that this protective action is overcome. Encapsulated bacteria are then killed and eliminated. Interestingly, some capsules can not or only inefficiently be handled by the immune system. The ensuing lack of antibody formation results in a prolonged susceptibility of the host to the pathogenic bacteria exhibiting such capsules. It was found that bacterial capsules consist of acidic polysaccharides. From this it followed that the role of the capsules in the interaction of encapsulated bacteria with the host may be due to the chemistry of the capsular polysaccharides. This led to intensi
