Bacteria-immune system interactions. V. Escherichia coli cell-wall components involved in binding to lymphocytes.

Various bacterial cell-wall components were tested for their ability to inhibit Escherichia coli 2 binding to lymphocytes. The binding was inhibited by outer membrane extracts of E. coli 2 but not by similar extracts from E. coli 0. In addition, mannose-binding protein, inner membrane or lipopolysaccharide extracts of E. coli 2 or lipoteichoic acid extracts of Bacillus globigii had no effect on lymphocyte-E. coli 2 interaction. The interaction did not appear to be mediated by fimbriae, since such structures could not be detected by electron microscopy. Comparison of the outer membrane proteins of a binder (E. coli 2) and a nonbinder (E. coli 0) bacteria revealed differences in their number and position.