Naturally occurring antibodies in human sera that react with the iron-regulated outer membrane proteins of Escherichia coli.

Sera from normal healthy human adults and infants, as well as sera from mice, rabbits, and guinea pigs, were examined by immunoblotting for naturally occurring antibodies reacting with outer membrane proteins of two Escherichia coli strains, O111 and O18. Some individuals had antibodies reacting very strongly with the iron-regulated outer membrane proteins, including the ferric-enterochelin receptor protein (Mr, 81,000), as well as with ompA. However, sera from infants contained predominantly antibodies to ompA; antibodies recognizing the iron-regulated outer membrane proteins were either absent or barely detectable. In human serum the antibodies were mainly of the immunoglobulin G class. No serotype-specific antibodies to the lipopolysaccharide of E. coli O111 or O18 were found in the sera tested.