Effect of antiflagellar human monoclonal antibody on gut-derived Pseudomonas aeruginosa sepsis in mice.

We evaluated the effect of antiflagellar human monoclonal antibody on gut-derived Pseudomonas aeruginosa sepsis. Mice were given a suspension of P. aeruginosa SP10052 in their drinking water and were simultaneously treated with ampicillin (200 mg/kg of body weight) to disrupt the normal bacterial flora. Cyclophosphamide was then administered to induce leukopenia and translocation of the P. aeruginosa that had colonized the gastrointestinal tract, thereby producing gut-derived generalized sepsis. In this model, intraperitoneal injection of 100 microg of antiflagellar human monoclonal antibody (SC-1225) per mouse for 5 consecutive days significantly (P < 0.01) increased the survival rate compared with that for mice treated with bovine serum albumin (BSA). Treatment with SC-1225 significantly reduced the average number of viable bacteria in portal blood, liver, and heart blood compared with the average number after treatment with BSA. Furthermore, the presence in serum of the inflammatory cytokines tumor necrosis factor alpha and interleukin 6 were evaluated as markers of severity of infection, and the results showed that the levels of these cytokines in mice treated with SC-1225 were significantly decreased in comparison with those in BSA-treated control mice. Although there was no significant difference in the number of bacteria that colonized the intestine, SC-1225 treatment significantly increased bacterial opsonophagocytosis by cultured peritoneal macrophages from mice with or without cyclophosphamide pretreatment. Our results indicate that antiflagellar human monoclonal antibody SC-1225 protects mice against gut-derived sepsis caused by P. aeruginosa and suggest that such an effect is due to its opsonophagocytic activity and the reduced motility of the translocated bacteria once the bacteria move from the intestine into the bloodstream.