Effect of anti-pilus antisera on virulence of variants of Neisseria gonorrhoeae for cultured epithelial cells.

Variants of Neisseria gonorrhoeae P9 possessing a, gamma or delta pili were shown to vary in their toxicity and virulence for human epithelial cells. Studies with antisera raised against purified pili showed that attachment and virulence were reduced to a significant degree in the presence of antisera to homologous pili. Heterologous antisera, while capable of agglutinating whole organisms, were largely ineffective in reducing attachment and cytotoxicity. Using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) system, the cross-reactivity between pili and heterologous antisera was estimated to be no more than 10-20%.